


Esperança do Amor

by inkycompass



Category: Dissidia: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: F/M, pun-based shipping
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2018-11-19 13:39:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 35,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11314536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkycompass/pseuds/inkycompass
Summary: Two unexpected warriors are drawn into the cycle of Cosmos and Chaos.





	1. The Rift

Hope Estheim sat under the shadow of a castle wall, without leaning his back against it. Any moment now, it was going to start moving around again--there! He watched as a turret vanished on the central keep, leaving a view into an endless dark sky. Hope got to his feet as the wall behind him blinked out of existence. It was a good thing he'd never found a way in. He hated to think what would happen if he was inside when the castle began taking itself apart.

The missing architecture left a view into the endless blue sky. Stars surrounded odd windows that framed deserts, forests, a beach... Hope had seen the huge warriors who prowled this land leap out over the bottomless expanse and vanish into those windows. He couldn't make himself do it. He'd wandered in here by mistake, looking for a place to hide from them, and now he couldn't wander out again. Sooner or later they'd catch him... he had an airwing, which wasn't really a weapon, and a sense of something else too frightening to contemplate. And he especially didn't want to get close to the _other_ ones, the ones that looked human and sparkled like crystal. Hope didn't remember where the sick sense of horror had come from, either, and he didn't want to.

The new layout of the castle finally settled into place. Hope breathed a sigh of relief and turned away from the eye-watering abyss of blue when the air flashed a brilliant green. He yelped, windmilled to save himself from backing off the edge, and ran to find a new hiding place. He'd been spotted at last! He fumbled for the airwing at his belt, wondering how he was going to take on one of those armored giants with an old-fashioned weapon that was properly relegated to after-school "sports" for kids who didn't like running. He tried to breathe slowly, in and out, through a tense sixty seconds. But instead of an unsheathed sword or a blast of fire, all he heard was the rustle of cloth and a sigh. 

He risked a peek around the corner and slumped with relief at the entirely nonthreatening figure: a girl with a curling blonde ponytail, wearing a pink leotard and for some reason a cape, looking around curiously. As he watched, she got to her feet, cupped her hands around her mouth, and called, "Hello?"

"No--!" Hope shut his mouth as she spun in his direction. "Don't shout like that!" he tried to whisper across thirty feet.

The girl giggled and leaned forward, putting a hand to the side of her mouth in imitation. "Should I talk like this?"

"No!" He groaned, feeling ridiculous, and stepped into the open. "This place is full of dangerous people. Anyone could hear you."

"You don't look dangerous."

That stung, even if it wasn't meant as an insult. "Neither do you. But everyone else is. You'll know when you see them. And where did you come from, anyway?"

"I..." She put her fingers to her temple. "I don't know."

"Oh." Stupid question. "Well... that's normal, I think. The amnesia. I've got it too."

"I saw an old man...." The cheerful look had fallen away. "But he's not here, is he."

Hope shook his head. "I haven't seen anyone like that. Just people in armor, and... things."

Oddly enough, that seemed to steady her. She looked around again. "There's a path through this place." It wasn't a question. "But I can't remember that, either. Do you know the way?"

"It's not a path, really. The castle just--changes. I've got the pattern worked out."

"Well, we won't find out from down here." She approached one of the walls. She put her hand on it--then she set her foot flat against the stonework and ran straight up to the top.

"What are you doing?!"

She poked her head over, grinning. "Getting a look around! Come on up, the view's great."

"No! How do you expect me to run up a wall!"

"The same way I did!"

Hope stared ahead stubbornly. "No! Normal people can't do crazy things like that!"

He heard her sigh heavily. "We're both here, we both have amnesia... that means you can do it too."

"That's a huge leap in logic!"

"Bigger or smaller than the leap up here?"

"Bigger!" He grabbed his head in his hands. She wasn't just making jokes, she was making corny jokes. She had to be the same age as him, and she wasn't afraid at all! Even after appearing right out of the blue--and--actually, looking at it that way--was he the one being ridiculous? Hope had felt kind of odd when he got too close to the walls. Maybe it was because he _could_ do it. He'd feel pretty dumb if he tried now and it turned out he could have been doing that all this time... but he'd feel dumb from a really good vantage point. And just as he made up his mind to follow, the wall flickered.

"Look out!" Hope realized two things: he'd have to catch her, and there was no way he could do it from that high. She'd hit the ground and he'd break his arms--but he held them out anyway, shifting from one foot to the other, not knowing what else he could possibly do.

And the girl... didn't plummet. It was barely even a fall. She simply descended, quickly but steadily, until her boots touched the grass. Hope lowered his arms, mouth agape, as she smiled at him. "That was fun! You should try it."

Hope turned away and hopped. It took him well over a foot in the air. "I... didn't know we could do that." Fun. What was fun about discovering you had unnatural powers? He remembered that dream he had before waking up. It wasn't about anything fun, that was for sure. The girl was peering down, trying to make eye contact, but he didn't. He stared at the ground instead, trying to pick apart the sick dread in the pit of his stomach. Eventually she sighed and turned away--and went rigid.

"What's this?"

It was the first time she'd sounded at all afraid. Hope looked up to see her staring at the cosmic abyss that lay at their feet. "I dunno. I've seen people walk on it. It's probably an illusion or something."

"I don't think so..." She stepped back with a shudder and looked at the sky. "We should leave. Let's try one of those portals."

"What. You think we can fly, too? And you don't know what's out there! It might just be a mirage for all we know."

"We're here for a reason!" She looked as surprised as Hope to hear her own raised voice. "I don't know what, but we won't find out if we just stay in this rift."

Hope looked from the portal to her determined brown eyes. He _did_ remember the woman who had spoken to him before he had awoken, a vision he'd wanted to deny because he didn't feel capable of 'restoring harmony' as she had implored him to. But this girl had only been here for fifteen minutes and she was ready to set off, to fight against all the terrifyingly unknown forces this place might throw at her. "Okay..." Hope made himself square his shoulders. "Okay."

"Great!" She walked to the edge and stopped. "Oh! I'm Krile. What's your name?"

"Hope." He joined her at the edge, tapping his fingers together uncertainly. "It's Hope."

"Hope..." That smile appeared again, full of optimism and friendship. "I like it. Let's go!"


	2. Overworld

The blue sky dissolved into swirling black. The portal deposited both of them on solid ground. "What happened to the sky?" said Krile, looking up at a mass of dull, bruised clouds. "It looks... sick." Maybe even dead, but she didn't say it out loud.

"I dunno. It's pretty creepy."

She scuffed the ground with her foot. A cloud of dry dust floated up. "It must be our job to fix it."

"A whole world?" Hope said in dismay. He looked around. "I guess... that goddess in the dream did say we need to restore harmony."

"Goddess?"

"Yeah." Hope tapped his fingers together again. "I mean--she seemed like one. Not sure how I know. But that's what she told me."

Krile looked thoughtful. "The old man wasn't a god... and he didn't say anything. But I think this is what he meant, too."

"How do we even get started?"

It was a good question. Krile fiddled with the bangle on her arm as she searched the desolation. "Over there," she said, pointing to a distant tower. "There might be answers there, or ones along the way."

"It's pretty far... what makes you think we'll find anything useful there?"

"What makes you think we won't? Have a little hope, Hope."

That got him to stop glowering at the ground, by having him tilt his head back and groan. "Did you really just say that?"

Krile grinned and took the lead. By the sound of it, he was dragging his feet, so she made sure to put a little extra bounce in her step to make up for it. It wasn't as though she wasn't afraid, too. She wished the old man had said something to her when he'd taken her hand, but she only had instinct to go on. And she didn't know how she could want to know about him but be afraid to at the same time. But she couldn't let herself get bogged down in doubts. Really, she was lucky that she had found a friend so quickly. Admittedly, he was pretty pessimistic for someone named Hope, but he seemed like he'd make a good friend nonetheless.

"Wait--Krile. Hang on." She stopped and looked at him curiously. "How old are you?"

"Um... fourteen, I guess."

"Me too." He looked at the tower. "All the people I've seen--they're adults. Warriors. Don't you think it was a mistake that we ended up here? We're not even armed."

Warriors... Krile tapped her chin in thought, not sure what age had to do with it. Then she looked at her hand. "I don't feel unarmed." She concentrated. A lance flashed into existence. 

Hope backed up several steps. "How did you do that?!"

"I don't know... but if I've got a weapon, you must have one too." It was the same 'leap of logic' he'd complained bout, but instead of arguing, Hope reached behind his back and pulled out a boomerang.

"I guess there's this--not that it'd be useful in a fight. It's just an airwing."

"Can I see?"

She handed him the lance when he nodded. He held it apprehensively in both hands, as though he was afraid the point would turn around and jab him on its own, while she turned over the airwing in her hands. It was light, but solid. Not the most powerful thing in the world, but it'd certainly leave a dent if he threw it at someone's head. "It's a good weapon. Maybe you're more of a mage?"

"No!" He tried to spin away, but the movement was made awkward by the lance. "I'm not--I don't use magic. Don't you understand what that means?" Krile didn't answer because she had to try and figure out what it _could_ possibly mean to make him so vehement on the subject. "Ordered to fight, given strange powers, it's... I don't know what it is, but I don't want any part of it!"

He wasn't just being afraid of monsters and getting hurt. Krile saw that. There was something more fundamental at work. And without memories, he couldn't explain it and she didn't know how to reassure him. What to say? "Then... don't think about it in terms of saving the world. Just think of finding out what's going on. How about that?" She held out the airwing. After a moment he nodded and took it back. Holding the lance again, Krile let go--it vanished with a flash of gold light. But they didn't get far when they saw something that made Hope bolt--and then run back, grab her arm, and bolt again behind a rocky outcrop. "What's the matter? What is that thing?"

Hope stared at it, wide-eyed--an amber statue marching fitfully across the ground, like it was looking for something. "I don't know. I saw a bunch of them--I saw a warrior fighting one while I was in that Rift place." The statue turned. "I think it's still trying to do whatever it was doing before it changed."

"It was a _person?_ "

Hope nodded. He went rigid when the statue stopped and headed right for them. It had heard their conversation. But Krile didn't call her lance, not yet. With its tunic and badge, the statue looked like a squire, and not much older than themselves. It opened its mouth and spoke in a garbled distortion. Hope shuddered.

It tried again--it sounded like a name. Elna? Alma? "Are you looking for someone?" said Krile.

The squire stared. Then it drew its sword and charged.

Krile didn't need to think. She just flicked her right hand out to call the lance and ran to meet it, quickly deflecting its thrust. The squire skillfully attempted to disengage and jab through, but her lance was more than enough to keep it at a distance, giving her a second to glance back at Hope, still staring with the airwing in his hand. "Throw it!" That made him jump, and he obeyed. 

But the squire had other ideas. Backing up, it let out a cry that sent visible shockwaves through the air and jumped right past her towards Hope. Before she could follow it struck twice, knocking him over. She was still too far--she clutched the lance in both hands, abandoning thought for instinct. "Powers of earth!" Vines shot up, holding the squire in place. It staggered in its bonds as a water spell blasted it from the front. Hope scrambled backwards from it, throwing another spell as it cut itself free, but by that time Krile had caught up. She lunged. The lance broke through its crystalline cape, shattering it like glass as the point ran right through its shoulder. It collapsed to its knees, the sword falling from its hand.

"See?" Krile grinned once she'd caught her breath. "I knew you were a good mage."

"Yeah." He didn't sound certain. She couldn't tell if he was looking down because he was watching the squire, or because he was uncomfortable. "Sorry. I wasn't much help."

"You got it pretty good with that spell."

"You're the one that ran it through."

She was... and it didn't feel good. Krile couldn't help but pity it as the sluggish breeze stirred its hair. Hope was convinced that this had been a person like them, and Krile could believe it. Especially when it spoke once more... _I've lied to myself all this time._

Krile crouched in front of it. "There must be something we can--"

Its head snapped up. Its arm struck out. White-hot pain seared across her collarbone and it surged to its feet to follow through, but a bolt of lighting struck it full force, shattering it into pieces.

"Krile!" Hope was there in front of her, eyes wide. "Let me--let me see."

She pulled a bloody hand away from the wound. It didn't feel deep, but she was breathing hard anyway, shocked at its attack. Hope waved his hand. A green light flowed out, sending coolness and then warmth through her skin as the pain melted away. She ran her fingers over it and found it perfectly smooth. "Thank you."

He looked her in the eye for a moment. Then he stood up quickly. "What did you do that for? You almost got yourself killed, trying to help that thing."

"I didn't think it was going to do that!"

"You have to think that!" His hands curled tight. "If you--if you want to survive, you forget about sympathy."

Krile gasped. She stared up at him, but he wasn't looking at her. "You don't really think that, do you?"

He didn't answer. She got to her feet and put his hand on his shoulder. He jerked away from her touch to face the other way entirely. "Do you?"

"You tried to help it and it attacked you," he said. "That's what happens."

She lowered her hand. Did that mean he was going to strike out on his own? He couldn't mean to leave her behind. "You healed me, though," she said, unable to keep the anxiety from her voice. "You can't help someone, and then say something like that."

He tilted his head up, looking in the direction of the tower. "We should get moving again. We still have a long way to go."


	3. Crystal World

They walked on in a silence that Hope didn't know how to break. He glanced at Krile as they walked, waiting for her to say something, but she didn't. How could she be so confident and fearless in battle, and not understand the basics of surviving in a hostile world? It wasn't about abandoning people. It was about not--there was no one else they could trust here, didn't she see that? That was what it was. He tried to make it all fit into proper sentences that he could explain, but putting instinct into words wasn't easy.

Anyway, she should've known better than to feel pity for that... thing. Hope could still hear its tortured voice. Oh, sure, it looked human, no strange shape or twisted face, but he couldn't shake the conviction that it had been made of flesh and blood until it had failed in finding Alma... whoever Alma had been. Hope kept thinking about that, and about having magic and the dream of the woman in white. He looked over at Krile again, wishing he could work it out with her, but she was so complacent about her newfound powers it wouldn't be any use trying to talk about it.

He looked up again at the distant tower, and then scanned the more immediate landscape. "Krile--" She stopped and gave him an inquiring look. "There's some kind of archway over there. Do you think we should try that?"

The archway had a red glow beneath it that worried him, and it seemed to concern her too, because she called her lance to her hand. "Sure. Let's check it out."

They stepped into another world, under a sky of a different-hued grey. Hope's shoe landed on a completely smooth surface, orange stone covered in geometrical patterns. Krile sucked in a breath. "Look at that crystal!"

It revolved up in the sky, inside a flat rotating ring. "Wow. I wonder how big that is." Kilometers across, maybe.

"I wonder... if it's connected to the Rift."

A steely clash echoed from the pillars before Hope could ask what she meant, and she took off immediately. Hope could only run after her--if they got separated, he didn't stand a chance. When he caught up, Krile pointed down to one of the lower platforms. It was two of the crystalized people this time, but identical, fighting against a single swordswoman. They circled as she tried to back off, and switched weapons so fast Hope could barely follow. When the swordswoman deflected one's thrown axe, the other bashed into her with its shield and then drew a long sword. She barely blocked it, and she couldn't stop the first from jabbing her in the leg with a lance. Maybe she could have beaten one, but if this went on much longer they would cut her to pieces.

"We have to help!" Krile hissed, daring him to protest with a look. He just nodded; not a time to try explaining.

She jumped off the edge. Hope had to gear himself up to follow, swinging his arms and fighting off the instincts that screamed _no!_ By the time he landed, Krile was well ahead. She swept her lance in an arc and shouted "Blade of wind!" Just like that one appeared, slicing through one liegeman's lance as it tried to stab with it. It stared at the shortened weapon, and then it dropped it for its axe. Before it could hurl it at its new foe, the swordswoman closed the gap and ran it through. She spun on the other, and Krile ran to join her without hesitation. Now it was the liegeman that couldn't retreat--in short order, the two of them took it down. It had all happened so fast, Hope could only run over in the aftermath. "Are you okay? I can--I've got healing magic."

The swordswoman brushed her sandy hair out her face. "A white mage? Perhaps my fortunes change." She sounded like a noblewoman from a movie about ancient history, and she dressed like one, with the armor on her legs and the fine embroidery on the tails of her shirt. The only incongruity were the flashes of pink in her outfit. Though she sounded exhausted, she refused to sway or lean against the wall, and simply breathed a sigh of relief when he set to work. "My thanks, to both of you."

"Are you traveling by yourself?" said Krile. "You should come with us."

Hope thought he could guess what the swordswoman was thinking when she looked at Krile: a kid, traveling with another kid, offering to lead her through the dangerous wilderness. She mostly kept the skepticism out of her voice when she replied, though. "I have met all the warriors summoned by Cosmos. How is that I have seen neither of you before? Your assistance is appreciated, but I cannot take your allegiance on faith."

"Wait--Cosmos, is that the name of the goddess?" said Hope. The swordswoman nodded. "I saw her just before I woke up here, telling me to restore harmony."

"Ah... then you presume us to be allies. Yet I would still have you answer my question."

"We sort of--haven't gotten too far until now. Until we met each other." Hope didn't say that Krile had appeared right in front of him, and he hoped that she wouldn't pipe up about it, either. If it was weird, the swordswoman might get suspicious and refuse to go with them. He didn't want that--not because he thought she needed protecting, like Krile was offering. No, this swordswoman was obviously capable and experienced. Krile was fearless, but she was going to get them both into trouble without someone else's guidance. 

Thankfully the swordswoman nodded, accepting this explanation. "I see. You are right, it would be wise for us to travel together. This world holds many dangers for the wary and unwary alike." 

"Great!" He grinned at Krile, who grinned back. "Um, my name is Hope. And this is Krile."

"Well-met. I am Ashelia B'Nargin Dalmasca..." She took in the expression on Hope's face. "But you may simply call me Ashe."

"Ashe." For some reason, that made him grin. "Okay."

Krile walked around the fallen statues. "They're identical," she said. "How can that be?"

"Why should you find that strange?" said Ashe. "There are many wandering through the gateways, and a limited number of forms to assume."

"What?" said Hope. "You mean they weren't--people?"

Ashe shook her head. "The manikins are objects, with only the appearance of life." She prodded one of them with her sword. It cracked into pieces along its facets. 

"So they were never like us." Hope almost sagged in relief. He wondered why he had believed it so strongly. It must have been something from before Cosmos had brought him here. Then again, that still worried him. How could he have such a thought without experiencing it in his old life? That wasn't fun to think about.

Krile crouched down, to his relief at a further distance from the manikin than last time. "Limited forms... do you mean they look like us?"

"Yes. You will find your own likeness among them, sooner or later. Cosmos has bound some small number to her service, but Chaos has also. And those who belong to neither are no less dangerous. I know not their origins, only that appear at random, and usually singly... but not always." She watched the manikins deteriorate. "We will encounter more of this one, I warn you."

Oh, great. There wasn't a single weapon that this one didn't have. "Is the real one an enemy?" Hope asked.

Ashe went still. Then she turned and walked away, clearly on her way towards the other side. "No."

Krile looked at Hope significantly. He nodded. The liegeman, the original one, was her friend. So why weren't they traveling together? Unless... Hope glanced at Ashe again, but Krile tugged at his sleeve and shook her head. He started to make a noise of irritation and hurried to follow Ashe. He didn't need to be warned not to ask any questions; it was easy to guess what had happen. Even if it wasn't, Ashe didn't seem like the type to reveal much about herself.

"Are you heading to the tower, too?" Krile asked after a minute or so of walking in silence.

Ashe shook her head. "That is Order's Sanctuary. My business is elsewhere."

"What business is that?" said Hope.

"Bringing an end to this war. Once and for all."


	4. World of Darkness

The desolation of the outer world pressed down on them as they stepped out of the gateway. Krile almost shuddered to look at it, but she held her head up straight. The lifelessness daunted her, but she would just use that to drive her forward and fight to restore this place. Ashe strode ahead, too used to the sight to be bothered by it anymore. By unspoken agreement Hope walked between them. He kept looking around, jumping at shadows until Krile gave him a poke in the arm. "Don't be so fidgety. I've got an eye on things."

"Oh. Right." He brightened up. "You're watching our backs."

"Of course!" The smile she gave him seemed to draw out a smaller one of his own.

Ashe glanced back. "I did not take you for so experienced a traveler, Krile. I... do not suppose you have had chance to gain recollections of your life before?"

Krile tapped a finger against her chin, still keeping an eye out for anyone trying to sneak up. "Just what I saw before I woke up. You mean, you remember things?"

"It returns in pieces. Fragments."

"What do you remember?" Hope said.

He winced as Ashe stopped short. It might have been a natural question to ask, but it was also a personal one. At length, she spoke. "As we fight our battles, the memories return... we face many foes here and see again the ones we knew. We are hunted, and remember who hunted us. The desperation of rebellion against those who hold powers far greater."

Hope's eyes widened word by word. Something in her words struck home. He could feel what that was like, he thought, being pulled this way and that, unable to decide his own fate--trying to find some way to be free. But in Krile, something different awoke. Fighting against powerful beings, that she knew, but not that same feeling of pursuit and resistance. No, in her the thought of facing the same enemies from their homelands stirred up a sense of urgent dread.

Krile touched the bangle on her arm. "How many are there? Who--who are they?"

"There have been close to a dozen... I know not the exact number. Some have been felled. Others..." Ashe began walking again, her movements tense, driven. "Chaos calls to him tyrants, demons, and brutes. They are led by the Emperor Mateus, inasmuch as they follow anyone. Cut him down and the others would soon fall."

"You mean... if we got rid of him, it would throw the forces of Chaos into chaos."

The look Ashe gave her would have turned fresh-baked bread stale in an instant. Krile, evidently, was made of sterner stuff, because the smile on her face was totally unrepentant.

"We should press on."

* * *

They halted before the next gateway. As they watched, a red glow swirled to life beneath its archway. Following Ashe's cue, Krile and Hope drew their own weapons--it was starting to seem as though they might as well be holding them unless told not to. "An agent of Chaos is here," Ashe said. "It may be another manikin, or it may be a more powerful foe. Be ready for anything."

"Chaos..." Hope said. Ashe and Krile looked at him. "And Cosmos. Discord and order?"

"Yes," said Ashe.

And by defeating Chaos, they could restore this world. That was the idea that hung in Krile's mind. This world hadn't been blasted with fire or ice, there were still dead forests and half-crumbled towns visible in the distance. But the unmoving waters and still, breezeless air spoke of something different, of something essential that had somehow been removed. She didn't question that Ashe and Hope would be driven by the same assumption. Ashe watched the red light, but it did not fade. With a gesture to her two young companions, she strode ahead and they followed her in.

"It's so dark," said Hope. 

"It's... familiar," said Krile. Rows of columns towered above them, split by arcs of vivid dark energy. No light penetrated through the gloom overhead, casting everything in shades of deep violet. 

"You said we'd find the golden manikin," Hope said, a little hesitant. "Why is that?"

Ashe's right hand brushed against her left. "The Emperor Mateus was his foe." The softness of her voice was laid under with steel. "And now he strings these puppets to send against me."

"You mean--" Krile said, yanking her gaze away from the roofless black. "You mean he's doing this deliberately? Even after he--"

There was no need for her to finish the sentence. "Yes."

"That's so cruel." Krile's hands tightened on her lance. "How could anyone do something like that?"

The look she gave Krile was hard to describe--anger, weariness, sorrow, all in one. "It is a simple matter for one such as Mateus." 

Hope looked down at the mirror-smooth floor. "I can't believe nobody's helping you. Why aren't they?" 

"They do not lack for courage, but they will not look past their own battles." Ashe shook her head. "Let us forestall conversation until we have dealt with Chaos' presence here."

They fanned out cautiously. Not that there was much of anywhere to hide in this place--not like in the rift or the crystal world, at least. A sufficiently agile villain could dart from column to column if they timed their movements right, but the place was flat as a mirror. Anything so bright as gold would make itself visible at once, and none of them really expected to see anything but another liegeman to attack Ashe. As Hope wandered cautiously back and forth, trying not to get too far away from one or the other, Krile found herself approaching one of those brilliant lines of energy. "I wonder what these are?" she said aloud, and prodded at it with her toe. Her foot abruptly shot forward, and she yelped as she jumped back.

"What is it?!" Hope exclaimed, running over in alarm, but Krile grinned at him.

"Try it with me!"

He pulled away, shaking his head. Too bad for him. Even the displeasure of going alone couldn't keep Krile away from something that seemed like flight, and she hopped up with both feet. The arc whisked her up, up and over the towering columns, giving her an unparalleled view of the dark gallery. She could see Ashe and Hope below, smaller and smaller, but then she looked ahead, hoping to get a sight of their foe. Then her feet hit the downcurve. Her ponytail fluttered behind her and her smile widened as she soared--almost soared, a sensation delightfully familiar as gravity took hold, speeding her towards the ground on the other side. 

Then she saw who was standing there. Delight vanished for alarm, and she threw herself backwards--too quickly, and she had to leap off or fall.

" _Krile!_ "

She backed away as the enormous figure tromped towards her. He was definitely big enough to be a warrior of Chaos. "What are you doing here?" he boomed, oblivious to her dismay as his striped face split into a smile, his gaudy armor shining under its crimson wrappings. "Ah-hah! You've come to help your grandfather--where is he?"

"My what? My grandpa! What are you talking about?" The words tumbled over each other before Krile realized that she had no idea who her grandfather even was, who this person was, or why he should know her name. Know _her._ "Who are you?"

"Wha--Krile, how could you forget your grandfather?! He's one of the strongest warriors I--" Then his face changed. Krile spun around to see Hope and Ashe pelting towards her, weapons at the ready. " _You!_ "

Ashe skidded to a halt between Krile and the stranger. "Krile, stay back! Do not be taken in by his buffoonery."

He swelled up with indignation. "Buffoonery?! You dare! Krile! How did you fall into the company of this sword thief!"

Ashe started. She looked at Krile. "You _know_ him?"

"Of course she does! We have fought together many times!"

"When?" said Krile. "And just who--" She stopped. Ashe was looking at her with narrowed eyes.

The expression didn't improve when the stranger said "Krile! It's me, Gilgamesh! ...You!" Gilgamesh drew an impressive sword. "You have turned her against me--whoa, uh--" His eyes, suddenly looking past her, went wide. "B-but I think it would be best to find your grandfather first. He can explain--we'll split up, cover more ground!"

He yelled the last sentence over his shoulder as Ashe stepped forward, looking down at Krile. "I don't have any idea who he was," Krile said. She knew she was innocent of whatever Ashe suspected her of. Turning against Cosmos? Spying for Chaos? Geez, did she think helping her out in the crystal world was some kind of ruse? Krile glanced over at Hope. To her relief, he looked confused more than suspicious, tapping his fingers together in thought.

"It's not like either of us remember anything. Maybe he's been here long enough to know more." He looked at Ashe. "I mean, he--did he recognize you from the beginning? Or did you only meet here?"

Ashe relaxed a little. "He did greet me by name when first we encountered each other. And I still have no idea why he would accuse me of stealing from him. But it is strange that he seems to consider you a friend. Stranger still that he ran so abruptly... Ah."

The explanation approached: armored all in blue, his impressive height made more so by the two spikes on his helmet. Krile raised her eyebrows. "Good thing there's no ceiling here, or he'd poke a hole in it."

"Wait, I've--who is that?" Hope said nervously. Ashe made a noise between exasperation and resignation.

"He has not revealed any name to us, if indeed he has one. I have heard others refer to him as the Warrior of Light. He is Cosmos' champion... and her enforcer."

Krile gasped. "Warrior of Light? I--darn it! How soon do we get memories back again?"

"Is he familiar to you?" Ashe said. "You have kept strange company in your past, Krile." Krile shook her head. Was he familiar...? She wondered how you could say for sure. She knew the way things had struck her, the Rift, the title Ashe had attached to this man. Yet his appearance itself was as strange as anything else. Darn this amnesia!

Hope had another question, though: "What do you mean, enforcer?"

"I believe he will speak for himself."


	5. World of Darkness

What Hope wasn't about to tell anyone was that he recognized the warrior at once. He'd been one of those who had passed through the Rift, so upright and fierce in his aspect that Hope had naturally assumed him to be an enemy. Not that Ashe's description did much to change the impression. He and Krile had to tilt their heads back to look at the man, all the way up to the points on his helmet--

Krile was right, Hope thought. They would definitely poke holes in the ceiling.

The warrior halted. "I see that you have found new traveling companions."

"I have," Ashe said stiffly.

"I am glad. It is unwise now to travel alone."

"Your concern is noted."

Despite the chill that hung on those four words, the warrior's expression didn't flicker. That made him braver than the aforesaid new companions, neither of whom would have dared to keep speaking after a statement like that, and they exchanged a shocked look at his courage. "The situation has changed. You should return to Cosmos."

"Of what use would be such a course, pray?" Ashe said. "I am only too aware of our situation. Had the others any sense, they would assist me."

"Why are you alone?" Krile said. "Shouldn't you have traveling companions too?"

The warrior turned his attention to her. His eyebrows came together in a pale furrow. "I have never seen you before."

"I didn't get here too long ago. I just woke up in the--hey!" She backpedaled several steps as the warrior's sword appeared, pointing at her heart.

"What are you doing?!" Hope protested. "She's on our side! And I don't know you either!" He stepped up next to her, trying not to look like his heart was racing as fast as it was.

"I recognize you," said the warrior, his utter lack of emotion more frightening than a snarl of rage. "You are one of Cosmos' chosen. But she is not."

"Krile has been of great assistance," said Ashe. "I doubt if she has any malicious intentions." But she did not speak with conviction, nor did she move to join them. Hope looked back at her. She didn't outright deny that Krile was a warrior of Chaos. Why? he wondered. Was she that suspicious over what happened with Gilgamesh? Uncertainty crept in. Could they be right...? Then he looked at Krile again, with her indignant expression. No, no way. If Krile was their enemy, she'd have shown it by now.

Krile poked the flat of the sword away. "Of course I don't. You're going to put someone's eye out with this."

The warrior frowned and shifted the sword back. "If you were not called by Cosmos, you must have been summoned by Chaos."

"But I wasn't!" Krile protested. "Ashe, you said that Chaos was a monster that summoned tyrants and demons. Mister, do I look like either of those?"

"It is a simple matter," Ashe said. "You saw Cosmos before your awakening, did you not?"

"I..." Krile shook her head. "I saw an old man reaching his hand out... that wasn't Chaos. It couldn't have been!"

"Old man?" said the warrior. "I have never heard of such a thing." He lowered his sword, staring at Krile for a moment more. She met his gaze, wishing she could read any intention in it. Maybe she really had come into this world in a way nobody else had. That couldn't be enough for him to consider her an enemy. She tried to believe that, but it was more difficult the longer he refrained from sheathing his weapon. She resisted the urge to poke him, just so he'd say something.

At last he moved... to lift his sword again. She backed up. "Wait--you really think I'm with Chaos?"

"I must test you to make certain."

"Test?" It took a moment for her to work out what he meant, so absurd was the idea. "You mean, you want us to hit each other with swords instead of just listening to me?"

"The truth will be revealed in battle."

"Don't be so silly!" She looked to her companions for support. Hope nodded, glaring at the warrior despite obviously being intimidated. But Ashe continued to stand back, one hand loosely brushing against the other. "Ashe--"

"This may be necessary," Ashe said, reluctantly. Then the sword chopped down through the air between him and Krile. 

Hope was forced to back away. Krile summoned her lance just in time to block as the warrior struck in earnest. She dodged and ducked, heart racing as the sword swept through the air, and remembered that she could go up. She knocked aside another swipe and jumped, backing away through midair. There was still no expression on the warrior's face as he followed. Just the momentary tightening of the jaw as he drew his arm back, or a brief glare as he flung his shield, before a return to statuesque focus.

"Krile! You've gotta hit back!" Hope stepped forward, but Ashe gripped his shoulder.

"This is not some footrace in the streets!" she said sharply. "It is a battle is for her alone."

Why was she going along with this? Ashe obviously didn't like the warrior. But she'd met him before, Hope told himself, she knew him. She would surely step in if something was really wrong. "He won't hurt her, right?"

"If she is true, then there is nothing to fear."

This conversation was lost on Krile, what with the warrior making a spirited effort to skewer her. She had thought he would have difficulty following her, what with his size and the weight of all that armor. But he stood in the air just as upright as he did on the floor. She _had_ heard Hope's shout of advice. But if she hurt the warrior, wouldn't that just show that she was an enemy after all? How long would it take for him to decide that she wasn't? Krile didn't conduct the internal debate in such plain terms as this. It was hard to follow a logical train of thought when a bespiketacled giant was throwing his shield around like some kind of boomerang. She ducked behind him. An enemy would stab him. She gave his cape a sharp tug instead, and darted away as he spun around.

The warrior was by no means a sluggish opponent. But she was smaller and nimble and her lance gave her all the reach she needed to deal with his blade. It seemed like a good strategy, but from the ground, Hope saw a difficulty--"He's not getting tired, is he? She's trying to wear him out and it's not going to work." He looked up at Ashe. She watched intently, but whatever her thoughts she kept them to herself. He wanted to call out advice again, but he decided it would be better to follow her example. Krile would work it out.

Finally, it seemed, the warrior had had enough. This time when he threw his shield he hit his mark, dragging her in. Then he raised his hands: " _Shine!_ "

A shield of radiance blasted outwards. Krile let out a cry of genuine pain and hit the ground. As soon as she got up she fell back--and then she realized that there was no healing on its way, no one stepping in front to take her place. She hadn't even given it conscious thought, she had just assumed that someone _would_ be there. But when she looked up, Ashe was standing and watching, and however anxiously Hope fidgeted, he didn't make any move to help either. They simply stood there behind the warrior--who had drifted to the ground and now waited. Had he decided she wasn't his enemy after all? Maybe--but as soon as she started to lift her lance, he charged once more. She ducked beneath his arm again, but this time she swung her hand up, calling on her earth magic. He grunted and recoiled as flashes of blue flame struck him, but he recovered quickly enough. She tried to whack him in the face with the butt end of her lance, which didn't work. He blocked, and he parried, deflecting each attack with no expression. When she took to the air once more, he rose in pursuit--but at least it seemed like he wasn't trying to strike a killing blow anymore. 

There had to be some way to end this fight. Krile spun away and clasped her hands. " _Heed my call!_ " Who she was calling or how she knew to call them were questions she didn't have time to ask, but as for the first, the answer came at once: half a dozen squirrels, swarming over the warrior in an angry mob. He reacted at last: an indignant yell. With a heavy thud, he landed on his feet and sheathed his sword, staring at her fixedly. 

"However you came to be here, it is clear that you are not of Chaos."

"Gee, thanks. Did you really have to hit me to figure that out?" She gave a grateful look to Hope as he ran over to cast a healing spell. He could have done that sooner, but she decided not to say so.

"His servants will not show mercy to you in battle. Should you confront one alone, you must not hesitate."

Hope looked up. "You never answered her question. Why are _you_ going it alone?"

"When you have the choice, fight together. But if you are separated, you must be able to fight for yourself."

Krile felt a hollow shudder run through her. So that was what he was doing. But she had no intention of getting separated from Hope and Ashe. 

Ashe's bronze heels clacked across the floor. "If you have satisfied yourself of our morals, I would ask your leave. We cannot tarry overlong."

The warrior turned to face her fully. "Then you still seek the crystallite?"

Ashe went still... almost as though the warrior had revealed some secret. "You know that I must," she said quietly, after a moment's pause. "It could end the war with a single stroke! Do you think it better to let it fall into Mateus' hands?"

"Mateus is not the only servant of Chaos. Do you seek an end, or retribution?" Ashe sucked in her breath in an angry hiss. "Many of our comrades have already fallen. Consider where you lead your new companions."

"Do not speak to me of the dead!" she snapped, with an angry gesture. "Had you been there to aid us, you would understand. It could bring us a permanent victory."

"I know what the crystallite did. That is why I search for it also, and I will destroy it if I find it."

The dark hall went silent. The warrior strode past Ashe, down the twisting causeway at the end of the gallery until he vanished from sight. Ashe watched him go, her grey eyes steely and set. But she didn't speak, offering no explanation for the argument or her urgency. 

"Ashe," Krile said at last, "what's crystallite?"


	6. Lunar Subterrane

Ashe stood still, the center of a spreading silence after Krile's question. Hope finally broke it. "Never mind. It's probably none of our business." He met Krile's astonished look with a glare that seemed strangely desperate. But how could it not be their business? They were traveling together as friends; it made no sense to keep a secret about their goal--she didn't fear, as Hope did, that Ashe would cut them loose if they angered her. That simply didn't occur to her as a possibility.

"It is... a weapon," Ashe said at last, without turning to face them. "Though it is but the size of a river stone, the power it holds is beyond compare. The others think it destroyed after its use, but I know better. It is still out there, waiting to be claimed by one willing to command it."

"Ending the war at a single stroke," Hope said to himself. It all made sense now. "So you're going to use it on Mateus."

Ashe's hand brushed against the ring she wore. "As he used it against Firion and me." 

"But--" Krile looked nervously from one to the other as they both turned to stare at her. "What about the light warrior? He thinks we should destroy it."

"Would you take his side over mine?" Ashe turned in astonishment. "You of all people should question his judgment. He was bent on destroying you not half an hour past, simply because he could not comprehend your presence."

That was true enough. Though part of Krile wanted to point that Ashe had stood by and left him to do so. "Did he fight you over it?"

"From time to time he deems it fit to test our resolve in that manner. But I will not be so easily dissuaded from my course." Ashe drew her sword. "I recall the watchwords of my kingdom. With sword in hand, she aids her allies. With sword in hand, she lays to rest her foes." She looked past the blade to Krile and Hope. "By my hand, the Emperor will know remorse."

"We'll help you get it," Hope declared, clenching his fists. "Mateus deserves it, right? It's only fair."

Remorse, Krile thought as they followed Ashe down the road to the next gateway, with its telltale red glow. If Mateus was the kind who would deliberately send the golden manikins--the manikins of Firion--he wouldn't even be capable of feeling remorse, or understanding justice. But Krile knew that she couldn't ask exactly what the crystallite had done to make the light warrior so adamant on the point. It had killed Firion. She couldn't make Ashe relive that.

***

A world of night and stars awaited them a perfect blue marble hanging in its sky. Krile caught her breath at the sight. "It's beautiful! What is this place?"

"The moon, if Cecil is to be believed." Ashe looked around the mesas with their flat crystals creeping up at the base. "It is vast, and there are many places for an enemy to hide. Remain here while I scout ahead." She strode off before either of her companions could protest.

Not sure what else to do, Krile summoned her lance. The ridges of pale rock that crisscrossed the ground sped her back and forth as the lines of dark light had in the previous gateway, and she skidded along them as far as she thought she could without getting too far from where they'd been left. Hope watched for a few minutes, sitting under one of the cliffs. "She said to stay put."

"I'm just making sure nobody sneaks up behind us." But she went to join him, since he seemed content to patiently wait. At least that was what she thought until she sat next to him. He glanced at her and looked away. He pulled one knee up towards his chest, then the other. "You're awfully fidgety."

That got an irritated noise out of him. "Are you trying to pick a fight with her or something?"

"What?" Krile drew back at the unexpected accusation. "How am I picking a fight?"

"You're acting like you don't trust her. Why?"

"It's not that!" She looked down, trying to find the words to describe her unease. "Well. I don't know why she didn't tell us about the crystallite from the beginning."

"Everyone else probably thinks the warrior is right. She didn't know if she could rely on us. Now she does."

Did she? Ashe sure didn't seem to want any questions about what she was doing. And Hope didn't want any questions about Ashe. But Krile still had more on her mind. "What about Mateus? I know he's dangerous, but--she acts like she wants to hurt him, instead of just stopping him."

"So? What's wrong with that?" There was a fierce look in his eye, one that hadn't been there at any time before. "She saw her friend die. She has to keep fighting those manikins, and nobody else is helping her. I would sure want to hurt him. I'd make him pay."

"I just don't see how it'll do any good."

"Then you've never lost someone you care about."

Krile gasped. He didn't notice. He was looking away again, like he always did, but this wasn't like when he'd been grumpy before. He thought she was some stupid--some naive child who didn't know what death was! And he was wrong. He couldn't have been more wrong if he was trying to be, not when she could feel it rushing into her unbidden--the desperation, trying to hold on, hold them back, so powerless, the raw unchecked _pain._ It burst out of her. "You can't know that!"

He jumped like a frightened animal. He stared a moment and then looked down. If she knew, how did she not understand? But he couldn't say it, not when he looked her in the eye. He wrapped his arms more tightly around his knee and hoped Ashe would show up in time to save him from thinking of something else to say. Krile clutched her bangle as though it hurt her, but it didn't... in fact, it felt warm under her hand as she stared, waiting for him to apologize. That was when a handful of pebbles fell to the ground between them.

Krile ran up the cliff so fast that Hope gawked, too envious of her reflexes to notice that he'd jumped to his feet and drawn his weapon nearly as fast. Krile kicked off the last few feet to land with both feet in front of their eavesdropper: a girl lying on her stomach. She scrambled to her feet and opened the biggest shuriken that Krile had ever seen. "Hey! Who said you could come up here!"

"Who said you could spy on us!" Krile planted one hand on her hip as she pointed her lance, trying not to be distracted by her embarrassment at having an argument overheard. More importantly, had she heard them talking about crystallite? She heard footsteps next to her and turned to see Hope.

"A spy? Who are you?"

"Who am _I?_ " The girl's face split into a cocky grin as she slung the shuriken over her shoulder to strike an insolent pose. "Only the greatest ninja in Chaos' army: Yuffie Kisaragi!"

"Chaos!" Hope exclaimed. But Krile spoke before he could decide whether or not to attack.

"Why are you with him?" she asked. Yuffie looked nearly their age, only a couple of years older at best. "You've seen what happened to this world. Why would you fight for someone who did a thing like that? Or for Mateus?" Yuffie's grin turned to puzzlement, but she was interrupted before she could answer.

"Hope! Krile!" Ashe skidded to a landing, but as she turned swiftly she let her sword arm go a little slack. "Oh. It's you."

"Hey!" Yuffie stamped her foot. "Try a little more respect when you say that! ...Hm." She looked around the triangle she found herself in. The recalculation was so obvious in her expression that Krile had to grin.

Ashe sighed. "I have no respect for a petty thief like yourself. If you would insist on battle, be about it so we can move on."

Yuffie backed away, holding her hands up. "Okay, I can see you guys don't want an unfair fight..." Her hand moved like lightning. Krile realized what was going to happen and grabbed Hope's arm to keep him from stumbling backwards off the edge as the air exploded in a black cloud. "But I'm not gonna let you call for help!"

They heard Ashe's sword chop through the air in an attempt to dispel the smoke, and then a clash of steel against steel. As a breeze cleared their vision, Krile raised her lance and rushed in. She couldn't bring herself to stab, but she could give a good whack. Or she could if Yuffie didn't keep blocking with that giant armguard of hers. The ninja spun into the air, flinging spells to hold off pursuit until one of her fireballs was struck down by a blast of water, evaporating into a cloud of steam.

Hope flung his airwing to follow up. It clashed with the shuriken midair. "Too slow!" Yuffie sang. "And here I thought you'd get to the crystallite first!"

Ashe gasped. "You know of the crystallite?!"

"I know I'm gonna get it before you!"

Ashe landed on the ground, nearly shaking with fury. Her movements were clipped and sudden as she turned to Hope and Krile. "We must bring her down with all haste." Then she launched herself upwards. Krile followed without hesitation. Whatever Yuffie was like as a person, they couldn't let her deliver the crystallite to her allies. Krile was certain it would be as bad for Chaos as it was for Cosmos.

But even one against three, Yuffie wasn't easy to catch. She blocked or she dodged every thrust Ashe made, and she somehow managed to keep her armguard to Krile no matter how much Krile tried to get on her undefended side. Yuffie suddenly ducked between them and clenched her fists, charging up some more powerful technique, when a bolt of lightning hit her in the back. " _Ow!_ Stop that!" She spun away, forced to throw fire and lightning to block Hope's spells from the ground before just diving straight for him.

"Don't!" Krile yelled, racing after her, but a shout of _Vanish!_ from Ashe and Hope disappeared from sight. Yuffie yelped and overbalanced as she swung her weapon at nothing. She hurled it all the way up and it struck home before Krile could intercept. Blood fell through the air. Krile swung her lance up, calling on the earth again. It answered with a giant stalactite that appeared over Yuffie's head.

"Whoa whoa _whoa!_ " Yuffie fled as it descended with glacial inevitability. Krile opened her mouth to call to Hope, but a green spell shot through the air before she could speak. Ashe still dropped earthward, but she landed on her feet and didn't hesitate in pursuing. Krile landed just behind her as the stalactite crashed. When it crumbled, she saw Yuffie racing up the side of a cliff. The other girl spun and went down on one knee, still perpendicular to the ground, and set her hand flat against the rock. It tore itself apart and opened a fissure through the earth that sent razor-sharp fragments of stone flying at her enemies.

All three of them cringed away as it struck painfully. "Thought I'd improve the landscape--yikes!" Yuffie ran through the air as Ashe launched herself without waiting for healing. "Give up already!"

Krile felt her cuts mend and gave Hope a smile of thanks--the invisibility had gone as he fixed his own hurts--and they ran along the ground below the airborne combatants. But neither could keep up with Ashe, driven by the crystallite. " _Disable!_ " The spell Yuffie was trying to cast sputtered and smoked, and Ashe knocked the shuriken from her hand with one swift stroke.

Yuffie tumbled to the ground and could only manage to sit up, shaking her head rapidly. She glared up defiantly as all three of them approached her. "You sword-swinging jerk! One more time, let's go one more time!" Chaos' warrior and crystallite or not, Krile had to admire her refusal to give up.

Ashe took one step forward and ran her through.

Yuffie opened and closed her mouth as Ashe withdrew the sword. "No--what'd you do to me--" She pressed one hand to her chest. She stared at the other as tiny black wisps curled and floated around her fading body. "You--you'll regret--"

And she was gone.


	7. Lunar Subterrane

" _Why did you do that!_ "

Ashe spun to face Krile. "Did you not hear her? She meant to claim the crystallite for herself!"

"But we were talking to her!" Krile protested. "She might have listened!"

"This is base foolishness." Ashe pointed her sword at where Yuffie had been just moments ago. "She was a warrior of Chaos. Had our positions been reversed, she would have shown no mercy."

Hope looked up. He had been staring at the same spot, unable to stop wondering where she had actually gone to. "You think so?"

"You saw how well she fought, even outnumbered. If either of you had encountered her alone, could you have survived?" Hope flinched. He had been afraid of the armored knights, but now he envisioned what would have happened if Yuffie had passed through the Rift. "She understood the price of war. Had I not struck her down, she would have found the crystallite, and all our efforts would be in vain."

"How can you be sure?" said Krile. "Do you think she even knew what the crystallite was? She didn't actually say anything about it, or what she'd do with it--"

"Wait a second!" Hope stepped forward, a look of recrimination on his face. "How long have we been here compared to Ashe? She knew what the warrior would do. She knows better about our enemies too."

"But--" Krile hesitated, shocked to see Hope glaring at her. "She didn't seem like the kind of demon that--Ashe, you're the one who called her a petty thief!"

"Whose side are you on here?" Hope demanded. "Don't you remember what happened with the first manikin? You can't show sympathy to your enemies or they'll kill you! _And_ your friends."

Krile looked from one to the other. What was going on? How could Hope even ask that? Maybe she shouldn't have shouted at Ashe like that, but there was no comparison between getting upset and siding with Chaos, what was he talking about? It was just that Ashe had done it so easily, without even a second thought, as though she was just finishing off an ordinary monster. "She wasn't a manikin," Krile said, feeling smaller. "She was a person. And I don't know what you mean, I'd never let--"

" _Enough._ " Hope shrank from Ashe's anger even though he wasn't its target. "I have not fought through discord and death to be lectured on morality by a child! You have not watched your one friend in this world cut down, nor been forced to strike down his likeness again and again. The warrior at least has fought in this war from the beginning. He did not arrive with no explanation, no allegiences. What right have you to pass judgment on me?"

Krile stepped back. She looked at Hope. He only glared at her--angry at her accusation, angrier still that she was looking at him to back her up. "But--"

"If you feel so strongly that I have done ill, you are free to leave. Find the others. Wring your hands in doubt and indecision until Chaos falls upon you like wolves. It is of no consequence to me." For a moment Krile stared at her. Then she dropped her eyes to the ground and shook her head. "Then keep your censures to yourself."

In spite of it all, Hope had to hold in a sigh of relief. For a moment he'd thought Krile would actually go. She'd have run to her own death if she did. Maybe now she'd stop acting like she knew everything and listen to Ashe. 

Ashe took a deep breath in and out. "I suggest the two of you take some rest," she said, with an obvious effort to return herself to an equilibrium of temper. "The battle was strenuous. I will scout the path ahead--wait here for my return." She turned and strode ahead, out of the lunar landscape, before either of them could protest.

***

It was just like when they had entered the gateway: Ashe scouting as one of them paced and the other one sat. Only this time it was Krile curled up under the cliff while Hope wandered back and forth. Not that he was looking at her. What had she expected, anyway? Did she think Ashe was going to fall to her knees in remorse? Hope didn't like it either, but there wasn't a choice. If they'd tried to recruit her or whatever Krile was hoping, she'd have stabbed them in the back and run off gloating. Really, it was good that Ashe had given her that wake-up call.

"You know Ashe is doing us a favor, right?"

Krile said nothing.

"I mean, she's tough enough to get by here. She's been fighting her own battles for a long time. She knows what she's doing."

"She said Yuffie wasn't a threat and then she killed her."

"There wasn't any choice! I mean, you heard what Ashe said. Even if she was really a good person, she was summoned by Chaos, and you can't do anything about that."

Finally Krile looked up. "Do you think anyone's tried?"

"What?"

"She's the only Chaos warrior we've met. Maybe he tricked her into thinking she was on the right side. Maybe he forced her into it. But what if it was you, getting summoned by the wrong god, and Ashe and the light warrior said you had to die?"

Hope did something strange then. He grabbed his wrist, the one with the kerchief tucked under the glove. "That... that's not--" He wanted to say that Ashe wouldn't do that. Or that she at least would hesitate. "She knew her already. She knew what she would do. It's different." The warrior--the warrior wouldn't hesitate. But there had to be more than that. Cosmos and Chaos were gods. Could you really trust a god to do right by ordinary people? Krile was staring at him, waiting for an answer, but he didn't have one to give.

He turned away. He paced back and forth a little. That was about what Krile had expected. She pulled in tighter, by degrees. There was someone who should have been here, someone who would sit by her and be easy, and who wouldn't have made her be alone--alone in a way she didn't know if she'd ever felt before. And yet she couldn't just sit here feeling sorry for herself. How long had it been? The planet in the sky didn't tell her anything--it didn't move. The only passage of time was the progressively tighter feeling in her chest as her nerves coiled into knots. 

She stood, unable to bear it any longer. "It's been too long. Something's happened to Ashe."

"You're right." Hope's voice betrayed his worry too. His hands clenched by his sides. Then he spun around. "This is your fault!"

She recoiled. "What?"

"You're the reason she ran off! You practically called her a murderer!"

"No! I didn't! I--"

"You know, just because she's not _your_ idea of heroic doesn't mean she's got no feelings. If she's hurt--or worse--" He didn't even want to finish, it was too awful to think about.

"I know!" The crack in her voice made Hope turn to look at her. But she was facing the opposite direction, arms pressed close against her sides. "I--I drove her away." She pulled in a deep, shaking breath and Hope realized that she was crying. Crying while trying very hard not to. Had he gone too far? He hadn't realized she would break down like that, she'd just been so cheerful and determined up till now. But... that didn't mean she had no feelings either.

Before he could decide how to respond, she spoke again. "I'll go find her."

"No!" That stopped her midstride. "I mean, not alone. You've gotta have someone to watch your back."

***

The first thing they saw on stepping into the outerworld was a great beacon, a pulse of golden light that shot into the sky from a gateway not far ahead. Hope wavered--his first instinct was to run but he made himself stand fast and look at the gateway itself. No red glow... Krile didn't wait to see that; she plunged ahead with lance in hand. She ran for the gateway so fast that she nearly crashed right into Ashe leaving it.

"You're okay!"

"Yes, I--" Ashe looked from Krile to Hope. "Have I been gone so long? No, I see that I have. Forgive me."

"Ashe--" Krile took a deep breath. "I'm sorry about--"

But to their astonishment, Ashe held up her hand. "You do not need to apologize," she said in a low voice. "It is no small thing, to see a life taken. At one time, I would have felt as you did. And perhaps that is why I reacted with such heat."

Krile turned away again and Hope began to feel ashamed. If Ashe had let go of her anger so quickly, what was he doing? He almost wanted to reach out, but... he looked down, not wanting to face either of them. "What was that light?"

She turned. "It was the crystallite. It is here, in this gateway. Come. The forces of Chaos have not yet claimed it, but they will have seen that beacon. We must make haste."


	8. Sunleth Waterscape

The sweet scent of flowers enveloped them as they stepped into the mists of the next gateway, feet splashing through rivulets that ran over the grassy pathways. Krile took a deep breath in and out, and felt her heart growing lighter as the sun shone down on them through the canopy. "I like this gateway."

"It is pleasant," Ashe admitted, "though I believe a bit damp for my tastes."

"Pleasant?" Krile said. After all that had been otherworldly, desolate, and barren, not even the possibility of a rebuke from Ashe could curb her joy at standing in a living forest. "It's like we've stepped into a rainbow!"

"We are not here to sight-see, remember. The crystallite is here somewhere, and we must locate it swiftly--Hope, are you paying attention?"

Hope started and stepped away from a tangled nest of crystallized branches reaching for the sky. "Ah, r-right." He started looking back and forth intently along the ground, but his eyes soon wandered back up to the trees and flowers. Something about the place felt--familiar? Maybe. No, it was more like it didn't feel strange. He had breathed this air and seen this sky. 

He jumped again when Krile touched his arm. "You look like I did when I saw the Rift."

"The Rift? This isn't anything like that--I mean, here is a lot nicer." He knew Ashe would want to use the crystallite against Mateus right away--if they even got to it before a Chaos warrior did--but there was no reason they couldn't come back. "Yeah. I... really think I've seen this before. But Ashe is right." An object as small as a river stone that could cast light into the sky beyond the gateway? And that was just when no one was using it... no wonder Ashe was after it. He turned to her. "What color is it?"

"Gold," said Ashe, without looking up as she drew her sword. At first she pushed the foliage aside carefully, searching for the crystallite's gleam while Krile and Hope got on their hands and knees, or hopped up to check if it had nestled into a tree's knothold. But the minutes wore on. The careful probing became less careful. Then the steel chopped through the air to cut a shrub in two. "Where is it?!" Hope and Krile both jumped. Ashe didn't notice. "Why does it not shine out? I know it is here!"

"Are you--" Ashe might have apologized for her anger before, but Krile still hesitated to speak now that it had returned. She had the feeling that this question might be even more provoking. "Are you sure that was the crystallite?"

"It could be nothing else! That was the light that shone when Mateus held it. Nothing else in this world has that power. I have been seeking it too long, now to let it slip through my grasp! We must find it!"

"It could be anywhere," Hope said, under his breath. "There are thousands of places a little rock could hide."

"We've already tried a few dozen. That takes the count down," Krile said with an effort to sound encouraging. But the difficulty wasn't what made her twist her bangle around on her arm as she searched high and low. It couldn't be wise for any one person to wield that kind of power, no matter how evil the enemy was. There were surely other ways to defeat Mateus. There was no point trying to say that to Hope again, though. Ashe was right, he'd said, and she realized how true it was--to him. Ashe was right about this, Ashe was right about Yuffie, Ashe was right about everything since they had found her in the crystal world. Maybe the light warrior would turn up--suddenly it became a hope so fervent that Krile threw a nervous glance at Ashe. Silly, because Ashe couldn't read minds. But her march forward had only increased in ferocity the longer they failed to locate the crystallite. No greenery stood intact where she had passed by. The light warrior wouldn't be cowed by that. He would just smash the stone so that it couldn't destroy anything else.

"Why does it not shine out?" Ashe said at last, despair and rage intermingling in her voice.

"Perhaps," drawled someone above, "it will not reveal itself to such unworthy insects."

" _Mateus!_ "

Krile and Hope had envisioned a towering figure in black armor, maybe something even that was no longer human, but Mateus was clearly a man. He was a man wearing so much gold it was hard to look at him directly, but a man nonetheless. He sat lounging on empty air and slowly opened his fingers to reveal what he held: a many-faceted yellow gemstone. "I'm disappointed in you, princess. No wonder your kingdom fell, if you cannot recognize such an obvious trap."

"Wait, Ashe!" Hope cried out. Ashe arrested her charge just in time to see the mine hidden in the shallow water. She flicked it aside with the tip of her sword before launching herself upwards at her foe.

Krile tried to follow and yelped as lightning erupted from the ground around her. It stabbed her through a dozen places, leaving her dazed and stinging until Hope grabbed her arm and pulled her behind a tree. "You're rushing in again! Slow down. He's set up a million traps," he said, looking around. They were everywhere, not just on the ground but in the air too. He cast a healing spell as he searched for a clear path. Ashe was already up there, sword against sceptre, and she needed help. "Here. Let's try this way." Looking up again, he threw another healing spell through the air towards Ashe, but if she noticed she didn't acknowledge it. She hurled accusations at Mateus, punctuating each with a stroke of her sword.

Mateus looked down at the two figures making their way towards him and flicked his staff. A fireball appeared and fell idly through the air. Krile searched around carefully and grabbed Hope's hand to pull him behind one of the crystal growths, threading a narrow path through the mines. He let go of it as soon as they were safe and looked around wildly: a dead end. The fireball drifted towards them like a tiny malignant sun. "There's nowhere to go!"

"Block it! Cast a spell!" Hope looked at Krile like she was crazy. But there was nothing to lose. He hurled a shard of ice at the looming orb and to his astonishment they collided, knocking it onto a different trajectory. She grabbed his hand again. "Okay. We can get up towards him this way. We've got to beat him before he uses the crystallite!"

Without a choice, he followed her, hoping against hope that they wouldn't be too late and wondering why Mateus hadn't used it already. He'd be waiting for the best chance to kill all three of them in one go, Hope guessed. Trying to herd them together, so he could watch as he crushed their spirits utterly. As if Mateus could hear these thoughts, his eyes lanced in their direction. Hope didn't think. He just threw his airwing.

It struck Mateus' arm with a _tink._ The crystallite went flying. Ashe threw herself towards it. A glow surrounded her as she reached out and her sword transformed entirely, glowing blue at its many points. It gave her speed enough to outstrip Mateus and close her hand around the stone. "You have danced me as a marionette, but now I will cut through the strings. Mateus! Answer for your crimes!"

The tiny chunk of crystal exploded.

Lances of devastating brilliance erupted from Ashe's hand, thudding into the forest and setting it ablaze in golden fire. Krile and Hope lost their grip on each other as an invisible force knocked into them like a polearm, flinging them apart. A line of white spikes erupted from the ground where Hope landed and he covered his head in his hands, trying to shield himself from the heat. "Ashe!"

"Truly your name is fitting!" Mateus yelled. His cape swirled as he dodged from the razor-edged whirlwind that shot towards him. Still holding sword and stone, Ashe leaped after him. She knocked aside a falling crystal growth as she pursued, but he had escape on his mind now and didn't slow to let her engage. Krile got to her feet and fell over again as thunder roared beneath her--not the boom of lightning discharged but the splintering of bedrock. The path before her hurtled into the air only to be shredded to pieces by strokes of ruinous light. She scrambled away as it pierced down around her--Hope, where was Hope? All the way over there, trying to flee the trees that crashed around him. Krile saw it an instant too late. "Hope! Stop!"

He hit a spark of light full in the chest. Fives spheres of magic burst out and struck. He fell back stunned. He tried to sit up amid a horrible rending sound, as though someone had seized the forest floor and was trying to rip it out like an old rug. Water flew through the air as the ground rippled. Everywhere Krile tried to move fell away from her feet. Gritting her teeth she launched herself forward, but an invisible barrier bashed into her, knocking her back.

Hope couldn't see her through the radiance. He couldn't move--he heard metal boots running along a falling tree. "Ashe! Help!"

She launched herself upwards without even looking, towards the distant figure of Mateus. A luminous bolt like an enormous arrow blocked her from sight. All he could do was curl up on himself as it struck. It was almost more than he could do to cling onto his senses. He didn't see the distant figure hurtling towards him. And Krile didn't know where the rush of strength came from. She didn't see her cape unfurl long and purple behind her as she launched forward, piercing through the barriers with her lance, rebounding from the swirling air. A sheet of razor-sharp crystal fragments hung in the air before her but she went through without regarding it, regarding nothing until she landed on the patch of ground where he lay. "Hope!"

He forced his eyes open painfully. "Where'd you get those stars?"

He must've been dazed. She put her arm under his shoulders and the ground splintered beneath them. No more time. "Hang on!"

He hung on as she scooped him up and jumped straight upwards, launching herself from disintegrating rocks and thin air. The sunny blue sky had shredded like silk. She made for one of those holes as the heat squeezed around them like a fist. The diseased yellow clouds of the outer world looked like heaven now--she broke through just as the remnants of the forest shattered, and stumbled to a halt on rock that was too suddenly supporting her feet.

Krile shivered in the sudden chill. She tried to set Hope upright, but his knees buckled nervelessly. "Hope?" He didn't look at her. He didn't look at anything. "Hope!"

She knew what it was like to lose someone. She knew the fear that welled up from the heart, the disbelief that suddenly the person you held wasn't there, feeling unable to stand as the hideous truth bore down. "Hope! Hope, wake up--Hope!"


	9. Phantom Train

Someone was yelling at him.

He wished she'd shut up. It sounded like she wanted him to open his eyes, but that light hurt too much, that was why he'd shut them in the first place. Her voice hurt his ears. Everything hurt everything.

Someone... Krile. And as realization filtered through, so did comprehension. "Please, open your eyes, you have to wake up, please, don't die, Hope, you can't, you can't leave, please..."

He opened his eyes. The burning light had faded into the ugly sky, making her look grey as she bent over him, her face streaked with blood and tears. "I'm not dead--ow!" She had seized him in a much-too-strong hug, but she loosened her grip so he could sit himself up properly. That glow around her was gone; so were the stars over her head. He'd probably imagined those. Not the sobs, though. She was definitely hanging onto him and crying. "Hey, stop--I mean--" Shoot, no, what was he supposed to say? "Honestly. I'm not dead."

"I thought you were."

"Well--I'm not. You saved me."

And Ashe had left him to die. She'd almost gotten them all killed trying to use the crystallite and still all she'd cared about was fighting Mateus. She'd destroyed that whole forest without even thinking. Without caring. And now here was Krile, sobs petering out to sniffles, all cut up and bloody because--

"Hey! Krile! Hey!"

She blinked and looked up at him. He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her upright. "Don't tell people not to die while you're bleeding to death!"

"Oh." She looked down at herself and giggled. "I guess that is a little silly."

"There's nothing funny about this," he grumbled as he set to work. The blood faded and the injuries closed, but she made no move to stand--she simply knelt there, linking her arms around him loosely and resting her head on his shoulder. He didn't know how to feel about that. And he did know that he couldn't just pick her up and carry her the way she'd done him. But they couldn't stay out here in the open. He carefully detached her and started to stand, only to double over with a gasp of pain. He'd forgotten the bolt of energy that the crystallite had shot through him... ow. _ow._

And ow, she'd just poked him in the arm. "You forgot you."

Under her slightly reproachful eye, Hope took a careful breath and turned his magic to his own, not-inconsiderable injuries. There was too much for both of them to be restored in one go; the best he could do was just enough to feel up to walking if they absolutely had to. "Do you think you can stand? There isn't--we're kind of exposed out here," he said, and she nodded. Between the two of them, they managed to get slowly to their feet.

"Gee, this isn't even close to where we were before." She pointed to the white tower, now to the north of them. "Look."

"How did it throw us that far?" Hope said, aghast. A gleam of light caught his eye, curving from the tower to a gateway on the shoreline close to them. A soft blue light glowed within it. That only meant there wasn't a Chaos warrior there right this second, but what choice did they have? He almost started forward and stopped. "Um. Do you... think we should try there? Want to risk it?"

Krile looked up. He hadn't asked her what she thought in--well--she wasn't sure if he ever had. It might have made a more dramatic turn if she could offer a different opinion, but as it happened, she'd been thinking the same thing as him. "There's nowhere else to go."

As soon as they stepped through the gateway, Hope tensed in the panic that perpared for flight. Krile straightened up at once, ignoring her aches to summon her lance. "What's the matter?"

"No, it's--it's just I didn't expect to see a train here." 

"Is that what this thing is?"

"Yeah." He swallowed, his eyes fixed on it. Memories returned, Ashe said. It just about figured they wouldn't be happy ones. He could see the platform, the faceless soldiers with rifles patrolling up and down the line, and feel the sick dread of disbelief. It was the same question as he'd had when he found himself in this world: why was it happening to him? A question, he knew now, with no answer. "I--I was on a train. As a prisoner. I was being taken somewhere. But this one is--this isn't like the train I remember." He took a hesitant step closer and looked it up and down. An old-style locamotive wafted smoke in front of the passenger car, and a classic caboose was hooked up behind. "I think it's like a tourist train... you know... for sightseeing?" 

Krile didn't know, but she could see his distress plainly enough. "We can go back. Maybe there's another way after all."

"No. It's okay. We've just got to hope for the best."

For some reason that made her giggle. Hope put it down to being lightheaded. Still leaning on each other, they stumbled aboard. Krile looked around, her curiosity transparent despite her exhaustion. Something about the bronze, the hiss of steam, and the noises struck her as familiar. Not so much the luxurious blue upholstery, though it was very welcome to sink into. Hope gripped the seat tightly in both hands as the train lurched forward while Krile settled back with a genuine calm, though she propped up her lance next to her. The steady clanking rhythm of the wheels and the endless forest that rushed past the windows was strangely lulling, at least to her. Hardly thinking about it, she shifted closer to lean up against him. Hope went rigid for a moment. Then he realized what she was doing, and felt the shame rising. How could she possibly feel better by doing that?

"Um..." He stared at his hands, curled up on his knees. "Krile. I'm sorry."

She sat up a little straighter and leaned down, trying to look at his face, but he turned it away as he went on. "I've been a real jerk to you. I shouldn't have let the warrior fight you alone, or sided with Ashe on the moon, or said--everything I said." His hands shook. "Especially about Ashe."

The train rattled ceaselessly northward. Then, finally, Krile spoke. "Thank you."

He looked up. Almost he looked away again, but it was too late, because she'd met his eye. "I was starting to think that I was wrong--that I'm not supposed to be here, or I wasn't strong enough for this fight..."

"What? You're way stronger than me! I was... just hiding until you came along. I was too scared to do anything. And Ashe--" He hunched over again. "When she talked about surviving, and doing what's necessary to win, I thought. Like I'd heard that before, and that she would protect me, and help me get stronger. So I let myself think she was right about everything. Even her revenge. But all she did was use us." He hadn't even thought about it. What did that say, that he'd almost thrown his life away for someone else's retribution? Bad enough to do it yourself, he realized, but it was just stupid to do it for someone you barely knew.

"You know..." said Krile. He looked up. "When Ashe told me to shut up or leave, I almost did. I should have. But the thought of walking away without anyone else, traveling by myself... I couldn't do it. Even though I was sure she was wrong."

"Well, I'm glad you didn't. I wouldn't be sitting here otherwise."

She smiled. "I'm glad you were still hiding at the Rift castle. I'm scared of being alone."

And that had been as hard for her to admit as it had just been for Hope. He wished he hadn't been so stupid this whole time. "Don't worry. You're not. I mean... if you still want me around."

"Don't be silly. And... now that you've realized that--" A slow grin spread over her face, and he looked at her askance. What was she up to? "I've got high _hopes_ that you'll improve!"

"Oh, come on! I didn't deserve _that!_ "


	10. Order's Sanctuary

"What do you think happened to Ashe?"

Both had contemplated it; neither had wanted to ask aloud, and the question had finally eaten its way out of Hope. Krile considered it. Ashe could be dead... even if she had escaped the destruction, she had been fighting Mateus. But it wasn't at all certain, in Krile's opinion. "She probably got thrown across the map like us."

"You think she made it?" he said doubtfully.

"We did," said Krile as she leaned against Hope again. In a moment her eyes had drooped half-shut. He couldn't manage that, not when there was no sign of when this train would stop and what they would encounter when it did. But there was some way he could be of use, he decided as he got out his airwing and laid it across his knees, carefully so as not to disturb her. It was about time he started pulling his weight as a partner.

***

The tempo of the chugging and clanking slowed from allegro to andante until finally it came to a halt with a loud hiss. Krile stirred and sat up. "We're here?"

"Looks like it." Hope slowly got to his feet, still feeling the ache in his chest as he moved to the door. He didn't shy away from Krile's hand on his arm this time, and not just because they could both use each other's support. But he did jump when the door slid open onto a wall of armor.

The first thing Hope tried to do was grab the door and pull it shut again, but the warrior simply raised a hand and held it flush to the wall of the car. Heart pounding, Hope dropped into a ready stance, stepping in front of Krile. If the warrior was here to fight, then Hope wasn't going to stand to the side again. But the warrior, after a swift glance over his shoulder, looked down at Hope with the faintest hint of confusion. "There are no enemies at present. Follow me; I will take you to Cosmos."

"Wait a second," said Hope, glancing at Krile. "Is this about testing us again? Because if it is--"

"It is not," said the warrior. "I do not deal out punishments to my comrades when they fail."

That derailed Hope's thoughts. "Fail?"

"I warned you not to use the crystallite."

Krile looked at Hope as his shoulders slumped. "We couldn't stop it," she said, to him as much as the warrior. "Hope knocked it out of Mateus' hand, Ashe grabbed it, and she just used it right then. It was too fast."

"Whether you intended it or no, you allowed it to be unleashed. Its destruction affected multiple gateways. Other warriors of Cosmos may have been harmed."

Krile put his hand on Hope's arm, but he moved it away--she was just trying to make him feel better. Then he realized that the warrior's statement implicated _Krile_ in the blame. That wasn't right. He lifted his head. "Wait a second. Is that why you're taking us to Cosmos? If this is about divine retribution, it's not fair to punish Krile for--"

"I am taking you to Cosmos to be healed." The warrior ran his eye over the disheveled pair; Hope pale and breathing shallowly, Krile leaning against the nearest seat. "Do you need me to carry you?"

They shared a look of horror, perhaps never more in sympathy as they were at the mental image of the warrior holding them like two grocery bags. It would be hard to say who spoke more quickly or more fervently. "No."

***

From a distance of many miles, the tower was just a tower, a stark white column reaching high above any mountains. Up close, it resembled a whirlpool set in marble, with a castle balanced precariously on the top. Hope and Krile regarded it with unease. Yet the warrior walked towards it without hesitation. "You sure you want to follow him, Krile?" Hope whispered. "I mean--he did attack you. I don't know if we can trust him or his goddess."

"I know..." Krile watched the warrior turn, waiting for them to catch up. "But I don't think he's bad, you know? I think if he says something, it's the truth."

"Or what he thinks is true." The warrior was starting towards them, and Hope realized he might be deciding that they needed assistance in spite of having refused. He stepped forward quickly, hiding a wince. "But if you're sure, that's okay."

They had expected a long staircase when they stepped through the gateway, or perhaps an elevator. But they saw instead a vast pale expanse covered in shallow water. Green light curved over the fractured pillars and spires that stood around a low marble altar. The warrior strode towards it and knelt. A woman appeared seated on the altar, white silk settling around her--the woman Hope had seen before waking. She did not look at them, only the warrior. "I did not expect your return so soon."

"I could not prevent the crystallite from being used. I am sorry, Cosmos."

"Do not reproach yourself. You did all that you could." She turned her attention to Krile and Hope, who stood awkwardly, realizing belatedly that perhaps they should have knelt as well. "The Esperance has finally moved across the board... but who is this? She is no manikin."

"I'm Krile."

Cosmos rose to her feet and approached. "I sense my light within you. But how did you come to possess it? I did not call you."

"I saw an old man," Krile said uncertainly. This had to be the fourth time she'd recounted the circumstances of her arrival. There had to be some kind of answer. There had to be someone who could give it.

But plainly that wasn't Cosmos, because her delicate features took on a look of gravity. "My warriors ever go astray, and I know too well the sensation when they fall. These events are beyond my experience. An arrival in the midst of a cycle, and at a time when warriors are disappearing beyond my senses...."

"I have tested her," said the warrior. "She did not seem to be a warrior of Chaos."

"Of course Krile's not with Chaos," Hope interjected. He didn't like the way this was going. "She's saved me twice now. And even Ashe thought she was fine."

"No... there is no darkness in her," Cosmos agreed. "Although I do not know what you mean when you say old man. There is only myself, Chaos, and the Great Will." Her troubled expression cleared after another moment. "However it came about, I have gained another warrior. And that is welcome after losing so many."

"Who else has gone?" said the warrior.

Cosmos closed her eyes. "The Knight, the Thief, and the Squire have fallen outright. But the Ancient, the Lion, and the Twins have now vanished as the Liegeman did. I fear the worst if they are not found... and I still cannot comprehend what became of the Sage."

"Which one of those is Ashe?" The warrior's grave look became a narrow one directed at Hope for the second interruption. But Hope had put two and two together on what 'the Esperance' meant. As angry at Ashe as he was, he didn't want her to have died for someone who listed her off like a collectable figurine.

"The Dynast lives, and journeys still," said Cosmos. Krile breathed an audible sigh of relief. 

"These two were injured when Ashe used the crystallite," said the warrior. "I will depart now and search for the missing ones." He bowed, turned, and walked back the way they had arrived. Cosmos watched for a few moments before turning her attention to Hope and Krile. Then she raised her hands and called forth a pale blue light that settled over them.

"This will mend your wounds and ease your fatigues. You may wait here in safety until you are wholly restored."

That was good news--after the walk from the station, standing in attendance was beginning to feel more than they could bear. "Is it okay if we sit down?" Krile said, pointing to the altar. Cosmos looked faintly surprised, but nodded assent. She turned to stare out at the distance again as Krile and Hope sat next to each other. The silence stretched into awkwardess, or at least it felt awkward to them. From the serene look on Cosmos' face, goddesses lacked that human sense. Krile looked at Hope, thinking of some of the things Cosmos had said. "What did you mean when you said Hope moved across the board?"

"He began to travel," Cosmos said, without turning her head.

"No, but... the board?" It was a weird thing to say.

"I know what she meant." Hope looked up. "You're talking about a game board. Because that's what we are, right? Just pieces to move around at your will."

"Not my will. The Great Will."

"Oh yeah?" Hope felt the anger starting to boil. It was all familiar in a way he knew he hated. "And whose will is that?!"

"Hope..." Krile put a hand on his shoulder to keep him from leaping to his feet. "You brought us here to restore this world, right?"

"No." Cosmos sounded surprised at the idea. "I brought you here to restore harmony."

"But... that doesn't mean healing the world? Then what is it?"

"It is not your place to question."

The frosty tone so shocked Krile that she made no move this time to stop Hope when he jumped up again--and he paused as he felt her hand fall from his shoulder. "So--you're telling us to go die for you, but you won't give us a reason? You can't do that!"

"But you do not die," said Cosmos, seeming perplexed by his outburst. "You will be brought back in the next cycle."

"You said that before. What do you mean, cycle?"

They listened in horror as Cosmos explained the revolving nature of the war that ravaged this world, and the deaths and the purifications each time one side attained victory--usually, the side of Chaos. She described placidly how whatever memories they regained would be wiped away, whatever foes they vanquished, resurrected, whatever victories or defeats, undone. "That's your Great Will?" said Hope.

"But--but what about what's out there?" said Krile desperately. "The dead forests, the still air, are you saying Chaos didn't do that? I thought that was the reason we had to fight him!"

"It has always been this way."

Krile could feel Hope seething as he sat back down. She didn't. The shock was too great for outrage--too great for any feeling at all. Never in a million years did she think they would have been told that they were here to fight forever on a dead world that didn't matter to its own gods. No wonder Ashe hadn't wanted to talk to Cosmos. Krile hadn't understood how a person could be so bent on vengeance, but now she thought she could. Pointless as it was, it would at least feel like a goal--like something that had purpose to it. Beating Mateus just to stop him meant nothing if he was going to come back and perpetuate the same cruelties all over again. "That can't be it," she said, and tried to believe it. "It can't."

"You should be restored by now," said Cosmos. "Go forth, and fight your battles."

"No. Hang on." Hope looked from Cosmos to Krile. The more Cosmos had spoken, the less surprised he had been. What else would you expect from a being that placed herself above humans? It all made sense to him. But Krile... she'd never had a doubt about why they were here. Right from the start she had talked about bringing life back to the world, as though there could be no other possibility. And Cosmos didn't even realize she'd just taken the legs out from under her. That made Hope even angrier. "We're not going until you give us a real reason."

"You are my warriors," Cosmos said. "I summoned you. You must do as I command."

"Well, you just said you _didn't_ summon Krile, and we're fighting together, so no we don't."

His hand sought for his airwing as he waited for her to attack. Or the speech about their pitiful attempts to defy fate and how they would soon do her bidding of their own accord. But all Cosmos did was stare at him, uncomprehending. "I cannot force you," she said at last. "No one has ever said this to me."

That was it? Hope stared at her, mouth agape, until he realized that they were the only ones arguing anymore. Krile hadn't said anything, and she didn't look like she was going to. She just stared at the water that rippled over the flat stone. He raised his hand, hesitated, and put it on her shoulder. "Krile. What do you think?"

"I--I don't know." She pressed her hands to her face. "I can't be here for this! He wouldn't have brought me here for this!" It was worse than the fight with the warrior, worse than the battle on the moonscape--even with both Hope and Ashe against her, Krile had known that she was here for a purpose that was worth fulfilling. If that was gone, what were they supposed to do? She couldn't even cry. She just felt strange, hollow. She had known to trust the old man. She had taken his hand. He couldn't have known what he was bringing her into, he wouldn't. And she knew she had to keep going. No matter what she had to keep going, but into an endless futile battle....

"Maybe..." said Hope. He tried to think of something else to say after it. "Maybe we should find that Gilgamesh guy. He seemed to know you pretty well."

"Gilgamesh..." That was true. Gilgamesh had walked right up and called her by name. "Yeah. And... I think we should look for the other Cosmos warriors, too. If they're in trouble, we have to help them."

And after that? The question lingered unspoken. But Krile could think a little clearer now. If she'd arrived here in some strange way, then maybe not everything was under the control of this Great Will, and if so there could be some chance of changing it. A slim chance, but still a chance. As for helping the other warriors, there was no way to know who they were, what they looked like, or where they might be, but obviously they needed help. That was a reason.

"Okay," said Hope. "Then that's what we'll do."


	11. Prima Vista

"I still don't understand," said Cosmos as Krile and Hope prepared to leave. "Chaos' warriors are cruel and destructive. Is that not a reason to fight?"

"They're brought back, time after time," said Krile. "There has to be some other way than this. Something you haven't thought of."

Cosmos looked contemplative. "Be cautious in your journey, warriors. If you require healing again, return to this sanctuary."

They stepped out into the outer world, and Hope sagged against the tower gateway. "I'm fine," he said to Krile's exclamation of concern. "But... I can't believe she didn't attack us after what I said!"

"Oh..." She straightened up. "You're not disappointed, are you?"

"No! It's just... it feels really weird."

Krile giggled as they started away from the tower. "We've gotten into so many unexpected fights. I'm happy we got an unexpected peace. It was nice to have a day without anyone trying to kill us."

"Kupooo!"

Krile stopped. "A moogle!" She ran for the sound, paying little attention to Hope's confusion. She could see the picture of a moogle in her head, round and curious and all poofed out with fur--so that when she saw the moogle that had actually hailed them she almost stopped short at how unlike that it looked. It was barely knee-high, with short fur like a cat's and a pom-pom as large as its entire body. But that made sense, Krile decided. She could remember where moogles lived, and it _was_ a memory, a green village deep in the forest. It looked nothing like here. And even if there was a nice place for moogles to live, they'd be different just because it was a different planet. "What are you doing in a place like this? Don't tell me Cosmos summoned you too!"

"Moogles are _real?_ " Hope said, earning quite an indignant _kupo!_ for it--and an equally indignant look from Krile. "Well I didn't know! He looks like a stuffed toy!"

"Don't keep digging." She paused to listen for a moment. "Her name's Mogretta!" The moogle gave out a derisive sound and turned to Krile. Everything she said sounded like _kupo_ to Hope, but Krile listened and nodded as though it made complete sense. "She and her family live here! And she'll sell us supplies."

So _that_ was why Ashe had insisted they collect the round, coin-like fragments that were left in the dust of the manikins. Mogretta seemed to want a lot of them for what she had on offer, but the idea of having real supplies was so welcome that neither Hope nor Krile protested the price. Being the one with pockets, Hope took most of it. He knew he was a good healer, but now that he had supplies, he shuddered to think of how long they had wandered around without them. The weight of the bottles and patches felt distinctly reassuring.

"Have you ever met someone called Gilgamesh, kupo?" was the next thing Krile asked. "What? Really?! Well, we'll give him what for when we see him... Hope, what's that funny look on your face?"

She was talking to a living stuffed animal... he shook his head. "Nothing. She knows where he is?"

"Heading north, last she saw."

***

Krile took the lead again. That lightness in her step had returned--Hope was kind of amazed. She had a smile on her face in a way he hadn't seen since before they'd fought the squire, and that had been how long ago? A week at least, maybe more, though it was hard to track time when you didn't have to eat or sleep. It was hard to believe she had been so disconsolate in the Sanctuary. He wondered how it was possible for her to bounce back so quickly. And as soon as that question occurred to him, so did something else. "Hey. You aren't putting on an act, are you?"

She pulled up short. "Am I doing what?"

"You know. Pretending you're happy when you're not."

What a strange idea, Krile thought. But Hope looked serious. "I'm not happy," she said. "I'm still upset about what Cosmos told us... that people like us have died for no good reason. For someone who only sees them as weapons. But... we have a goal now. And now we know that there's life here besides us and the gods." It looked like Hope wanted to say something about how tenuous that thread was. "Looking for Gilgamesh, finding our own reason to fight, that was your idea."

"I don't know that it's good one," he admitted.

"It's better than hers. I..." She trailed off, unsure how to describe how she had felt in Order's Sanctuary. "I didn't know what to do. I couldn't think of a way forward. You did."

Hope looked at Krile closely. She seemed sincere. "Okay. If you're sure."

"I don't know about sure--but I am pretty _hopeful!_ "

He yelped in surprise as she grabbed him around the shoulders in a sudden hug. Even more, he found himself chuckling and not rolling his eyes. It just made him happy to hear her laugh again, even if it was at her own silly joke. He was almost thinking of making one back when the gateway in front of them suddenly glowed red, and she drew back. So much for that, thought Hope in disappointment. "Uh-oh. We're going to have company." Drawing their weapons, they stepped through.

"Is this... a theater?" said Hope, looking at the fake castle prop, the trapdoors in the floor, and the painted backdrop of a sunset.

"It's an airship." Krile looked beyond the edge of the stage. A city in the distance, a thick layer of fog that shrouded the land below completely. Something about it felt... wrong... but footsteps made her turn away from the sight.

A man descended the long staircase of the castle facade. Or rather, he made an entrance, his long grey coat billowing behind him, his close-cut blond hair shining above the vicious scar across his face. He grinned slowly, like a cat seeing a mouse. "Well, well, well. It's the new kids on the playground."

He summoned a gunblade to his hand and rested it on his shoulder, looking for all the world like he thought there was a spotlight shining on him. "Who are you?" said Krile, trying to blink aside a strange sensation humming below her thoughts.

The man sighed heavily and held out the weapon so that the light glinted from its edge. "Now that hurts. I come all the way to Cosmos' realm just for you, and this is the kind of hello I get? To think you can't recognize your own downfall when he's standing right in front of you."

"Our--? No, no, what's your name?"

Hope stared at Krile. She'd probably been right about the ninja girl at the moonscape, but this guy was obviously not persuadable--then he saw the set of her teeth and the wince she was trying to hide. Something was wrong, and she was trying to stall him.

The man's icy eyes narrowed. "It's Seifer Almasy. Remember it: it's the last one you'll ever hear."

"We're not fighting for Cosmos," Hope said quickly.

The slow smile reappeared. "A filthy pair of deserters? You know they get the firing squad. Are you willin' to face that together?" He looked from one to the other. "I get it. You two are a posse, aren't you?"

"Uh..." Did this guy think he was in a movie or something? But fine, thought Hope, if it kept him talking. "Yeah, that's right."

Seifer paced towards the other end of the stage, looking out at the distant city. Positioned as he was, he stood out stark and alone against the sky. "In this world, your posse's all you can count on. You got their back, and they got yours. I know who you two are. Remember Yuffie?" Krile gasped. Seifer turned back and advanced on them slowly, holding his gunblade out to the side. "I'm gonna give you what you gave her--no-- _MERCY!_ "

Hope and Krile threw themselves aside from the crackling explosion. The crawling in Krile's head burst into pain, but she summoned her lance anyway and threw herself at Seifer--he was out for blood and she couldn't let him get close to Hope. Seifer lunged, all to eager to cut her down. He swung wide and he jabbed, much quicker than the warrior. And when Hope ran behind them, Seifer quickly threw a blast of fire in his path. Heart pounding, Hope made himself jump over it. It singed, but he managed somehow to hit the floor running. The castle facade boomed as he pounded up the hollow stairs to the ramparts. From the high ground he had a clear view and a clear shot to hit Seifer with spells--even when Seifer maneuvered Krile to be in between them. 

And he could see that Krile was moving too slowly. She wasn't using her magic, either. Hope tried a few shots of Cure, but it didn't help--and Seifer was pushing her to the edge of the stage. Hope threw one more spell at her--this time a shield, and raised his voice in a desperate bid to distract. "Hey! Up here!"

It worked. Seifer whirled away and rose through the air. The wood and plaster crenellation burst into fragments as the gunblade connected and exploded. Hope ducked under the next swing and jumped through the hole in the floor.

"This ain't hide and seek! Get up here and die like a man, Hopeless!" Seifer roared down.

He stomped his foot, sending splinters and dust falling down, but Hope ignored it and ran to the end of the hollow interior. He'd hoped to find some way into the rest of the airship, maybe a lever for the trapdoors, but it only contained the prop doors back out onto the stage. Hope went to the smallest one and slammed it shut behind him. "Wait, Krile!"

Because she was throwing herself at Seifer again; she'd run up behind him while he was yelling through the floor. She'd finally managed to call on her magic to make vines sprout from the plywood, holding Seifer in place. And now she had to strike a killing blow. She could do it now while he was slashing at the binds--then he looked up and met her eye. "Attacking a restrained opponent? Tch, where's your sense of chivalry?"

Mind games, she told herself, as he ripped out the vines and turned the gunblade on her. He pulled the trigger as he slashed, and the explosion drowned out the voices. He seized her by the fastening of her cape and launched himself towards the edge of the stage, flinging her down. She hit the sloping deck with a thump and rolled off towards the screaming fog below.

" _Krile!_ "

Seifer laughed. "One down, one to--" An explosion of lightning shut him up. Hope followed it up with as many small bolts as he could call before he ran to the edge of the stage, searching the clouds, because physics was different in this world. She wasn't dead. She wouldn't fall all that way. She'd recover. He'd cast Protect on her. He couldn't panic, she was fine, she'd be fine, she had to be.

"Your toy knight's gone, Hopeless!" Hope didn't look up, he just ducked and ran. He could hear Seifer's boots pounding behind him, but he kept his eyes to the sky, waiting for Krile to jump back up.

She didn't jump back up. She just rose through the air, clutching her lance and staring wide-eyed, with the hood of her cape held by an enormous figure in red. "Found you again, Krile!"

"Put that down!" Seifer snarled, skidding to a halt. "She's mine."

Gilgamesh swung her away from his pointing gunblade. "What? She's _my_ honorable adversary... in no condition to fight our rematch! What did you do to her?!" He leaned forward as he touched down. "Waaaaaaaaait... I recognize you. Hang on a second, Krile."

Hope ran over to her as her knees buckled, quickly casting a healing spell to fix the damage. The wind had spattered blood all over her, but the wound itself wasn't as bad as it appeared. Behind them, he could hear the clash of too many weapons going at once. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fi--" She made as if to stand and winced. She wasn't fine. Maybe there was a reason Hope had been suspicious of her smile. "My head hurts--the voices, can't you hear them?"

"Just those two." Hope gave a glance back, but Gilgamesh had gotten Seifer to the other end of the stage and looked to be keeping him busy. "Let's get away from the edge."

Krile let herself be guided over to the steps, holding her head in one hand as the voices crawled painfully around her thoughts. There were thousands, a high-pitched whispering screech in her mind--they churned right below her feet and rose from the bottomless mist, blending into a cacophany of festering anger and pain. She shook her head hard in a fruitless effort to clear it. How could Hope and Seifer and Gilgamesh not notice? 

"Look. Let me do the fighting for now," said Hope. "I mean, if--okay, never mind--"

Krile looked up in time to see Gilgamesh strike, knocking Seifer clear across the stage. With an enraged roar, Seifer vanished into the sky. Gilgamesh, looking smug, gave his swords a victorious twirl. "Finally got rid of that pest! And I see you got rid of that thief, Krile."

"How do you know me?" said Krile.

"How do you not have amnesia?" said Hope.

Gilgamesh stared at them. Then he nodded. "Ahhh, you've lost your memories! That explains why your grandfather called me a crazy loon who can't tell his own weapons apart. Krile!" A lance appeared in his hand to point theatrically at her. "I have followed you from your world to this one to do battle once more!"

Hope stood up quickly. This wasn't what he'd had in mind when he'd suggested looking for this guy. "Hold on a sec! You're not going to--"

Gilgamesh looked at him disdainfully. "I would never fight an opponent who was not at full strength! Go over there, boy, I have to catch up with my destined rival!"

In spite of the ache in her head, Krile smiled. "It's okay. I think we can trust him." Hope frowned, clearly dubious, but he walked off to give them a little privacy. She looked up at Gilgamesh, who seemed to be torn on what dramatic pose was most suitable. "Are you saying my grandpa is... here?"

"I haven't seen him in a while, now that you mention it." Gilgamesh rubbed his chin. "But he was strong enough to beat me in single combat, so I'm sure he's all right! Yes, that was when--" He stopped as a piercing yell split the air. Krile rocketed to her feet, lance in hand once more.

" _Hope!_ "

A wall of fire exploded across the stage. In the middle stood Seifer, holding Hope off the ground with the gunblade pressed across his throat, the suddenly ragged edges of his coat fluttering in the heat. "No mercy," he growled. "I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU!"

"No!" Krile started to rush forward, but a warning shake by Seifer stopped her short. "Please! Don't--don't--"

Seifer grinned. "Heh. You don't get it... _this_ would be mercy. Emperor's got somethin' better in mind." He chopped his gunblade through the air, sending the planks of the stage bursting upwards in a fiery cross. Krile leapt forward and instantly felt the abyss pull at her feet until a huge arm grabbed her around the middle. With his other hand, Gilgamesh threw a curved blue sword into the sky and jumped through the fissure it split in the air.


	12. Chaos Shrine

The blackness opened at the other end into the familiar bleak horizon. Gilgamesh stumbled to a halt, putting Krile down to retrieve the blue sword and dust himself off. "Now, where was I? Ah, yes, the time your grandfather fought me to a draw--"

"We have to go back!" Krile yelled, whirling on her heel, but the fissure was completely gone. "Where did you take us? We have to get Hope back! He's--he'll be--Give me that sword!"

"Whoa, whoa!" Gilgamesh held the blade out of her reach. "I have great respect for you, but there are limits! Hmmm..." Gilgamesh looked around. "Well, I don't see them anywhere. That pipsqueak really matters to you?"

" _Yes!_ "

"...Hey! Don't do that!" Gilgamesh backed away as Krile, too upset to be embarrassed, advanced on him with tears running down her face. "Uhhh... We could look for him while I tell you my tale."

"Fine, yes--which way is Chaos' stronghold?" This had been Hope's plan and now Hope was in some dungeon facing a fate worth than death. Maybe that finally got through to Gilgamesh, because he stopped looking annoyed and laughed, gesturing at her to follow him.

"Of course! It's just like the time your grandfather stormed the castle single-handedly to rescue his friends! So impressed was I, that I voluntarily conceded the match!" Sword still in hand, Gilgamesh gesticulated dramatically. There was a ripping sound.

"Gilgamesh--"

"I knew then that he and his companions would be worthy of my unparalleled--" He jerked to a halt. His right arm had vanished into a violet hole in the air. "Not this again!"

Krile grabbed him by the cape as the hole expanded. "Gilgamesh! Let go of the sword!"

"No way! I won this from Odin!" He grabbed the handle with his other hand, feet dragging over the dusty ground. "Hah! Yes! I have you now--no puny Rift steals from I, the great--!"

Krile was forced to let go as the rift snapped shut, leaving no trace that it had ever existed. " _Gilgamesh!_ "

There was no answer. She looked around wildly. No... no. He was gone. Not dead, but not likely to come back anytime soon. Krile sucked in a deep breath as the hollow feeling opened inside her. Order's Sanctuary was visible only as a white dot in the northwestern sky. But she couldn't go back there. How many of Cosmos' warriors were left? Three dead, three missing, who knew where Ashe and the light warrior might be, if they were still free. Gilgamesh had chatted casually about finding her grandpa, but Krile thought about the old man in her vision and felt a strange leaden sensation inside. She wouldn't find Grandpa here. He wasn't here to be found. It was just her.

And yet... and yet. It was just her, but she was free, and alive. That meant she had to try. All she had to do was figure out where Chaos' stronghold was, because Hope and the others were there. Krile wished that Mogretta had given them a map. There wasn't much to the south. There was ocean to the east. That left west or north... west would take her right past Order's Sanctuary. Krile wiped her eyes and summoned her lance. North it was.

***

She walked and walked, without seeing so much as a manikin wandering the wastes with her. Even that would have been a welcome sight, but somehow Gilgamesh had opened a portal to the most isolated part of an isolated world. Finally she started to hum, just an attempt to keep her spirits up. She had been entirely alone for an entire day now, and at first the thin sound of her own voice only made that clear. But the little notes going up and down with the march helped, somehow. Ahead was a gateway, hollow underneath. Just a little farther and she'd be on the other side of the isthmus. Taking a deep breath, she finished off the final notes of the song... and just as she stepped into the gateway, it burst into fiery red.

Krile quickly shifted into a ready stance as the scene changed to a ruined shrine. At the other end of a threadbare red carpet was a throne, before which stood her enemy. _He_ was the kind she had expected to see from the beginning, huge and covered in armor from head to toe. Horns stuck out from either side of his faceless helmet, and he held a savage-looking weapon as huge and heavy as a man. "Who are you?" she said, trying to keep her voice steady.

"What?" The knight stood straighter. "You do not recognize Garland? No--the new arrival, the interloper. This is it?"

Krile took a deep breath and stepped forward. "Tell me where Chaos' stronghold is!"

He laughed. " _You_ wish to challenge the God of Discord? He will squash you like an insect."

"No. I'm going to rescue the people you've captured."

Garland's armored hand clenched into a fist. "Do not equate me with those petty schemers! Short-sighted fools, thinking they will end the cycle, no matter how many times they repeat it over again. I cannot waste my time on you while the despot is plotting." He strode forward, the tip of his massive blade sending up sparks as he dragged it along the floor. Krile took another step towards him.

"If it's not you, then tell me where Mateus is!"

Garland's helmet echoed with his rumble of disgust. "Such a disappointment that Cosmos broke the terms for a worthless runt. But if you insist, I will crush you here!" The segments of the blade shifted as he swung it down, turning into an axe that sent chips of stone flying as she jumped to the side. Metal scraped over metal as it transformed back into a blade and shot out on its chain, crashing into the wall beside her. Krile jabbed at his stomach and ducked behind as he swiped at her with one arm. He came around swinging his sword, but a jump above and she could belt him on the head with the shaft of her own weapon. All it got was a roar of rage and another huge swing that struck one of the temple's pillars, knocking it to pieces. Krile jumped backwards through the air, away from the confined gallery. He could hurl his weapon around freely under the open ceiling, but she could avoid it much better if she didn't have to weave through pillars.

She hoped that was the right tactic. She wished Hope were here so he could chime in. And now Garland split his sword to shoot several bursts of fire. Krile swung at one with her lance, knocking it away. Another shot past her arm with scorching heat. He used the time to close the distance again, and even blocking the next swing from his next weapon sent her hurtling backwards.

Krile skidded to a halt on the roof of the temple as he smashed through the ceiling with his next attack, and she thought of the light warrior's words. She could dodge and she could evade, and she might even get in a few whacks doing that. But unless she struck back and struck hard, he would keep going, and he would crush her without remorse--she had to hit him until she knocked him down. She launched herself at him again, aiming at one of the few spots not covered in armor. The blade cut through, and he roared as blood spilled down. "So! The insect has a sting! Perhaps this is worth my time." He shook his injured arm, and Krile had the strong sense that he was smiling behind his visor. But it wasn't a compliment that did her any good, because he swung the sword out on its chain again in an attempt to smash her into the ground.

She realized her advantage as she evaded the long strike. It wasn't that Garland was slow. But his immense size and the heft of his sword made every movement deliberate, planned, as he gathered his muscles and put them to use. She could watch him and see how he was going to move, which direction he would go in, where he would put the sword next. Even when he ripped the blade itself in two to strike at her with both hands, she could dodge through and under and pop up behind him. And after attacking him the first time, it came easier the second, and the third. She _had_ to fight with all she had, for the sake of the others. And though no one strike brought him down, she could see that they were beginning to tell.

But Garland was far from finished, or even halfway through. " _Venerable strength!_ " With those words, lightning crashed and burned through her body. Then came the sword, spinning like a whirlwind, smashing into her. She didn't even have the air left to cry out in pain as she toppled through the floor. She stared upwards as he jumped, descending slowly as though gravity itself had to heft his huge bulk. And then instinct kicked in and she rolled to the side as the axe-shaped blade smashed down where she had been. A high-pitched noise escaped her throat as she forced herself halfway upright. Something shining and blue caught her eye--a bell with wings, spinning in the corner beneath a frieze of a many-headed dragon.

She pushed off the ground into the pillared gallery. Stone smashed behind her and she turned around, jabbing her lance, mouthing the words to summon the powers in the earth. A wave of water emerged and struck his chest. It still wasn't enough; she could hear his footsteps and the scraping of the sword behind her as she staggered towards the bell and reached out.

It vanished as soon as her fingers touched it, pouring raw energy up her arm and through her chest. She threw herself flat against the wall as Garland shot his weapon forward like a fiery lance, but it stuck into the stone. He growled in frustration and took it in both hands to yank it free. Krile took a breath and felt the energy burst to life, wiping away the fatigue and the pain. " _Heed my call!_ "

It was no bunch of squirrels that appeared but a boar, a huge creature running full-tilt to smash into her foe and toss him down into the temple atrium. Krile didn't waste any time. " _Powers of Earth!_ " Now an ocean of water crashed through, picking him up and smashing him into the opposite wall as she leaped after him. It was the same feeling, she realized, as when she had gone through the crystallite's destruction to save Hope. And she was doing it for the same reason now. Garland didn't even have time to get back to his feet before she summoned the rest of the energy into her. She didn't know what she was doing, only that it came, and then she felt it--a light shining around her, a light standing behind her. She looked back and saw him-- _him,_ her grandfather. He stood as a shape of translucent light, yet the clap on her shoulder was solid as oak. She spun her lance slowly and felt the true power of the earth, dauntless and indomitable, roar through her and smash into Garland, one, two, five times.

The temple went suddenly dim again as the light inside her winked out, and she staggered, clutching her lance to stay upright. Garland lay still. Dead? She hadn't meant to do that! And yet she had to resist the urge to run and see, because if he was alive, he would surely make her pay for it... his breastplate rose and fell slowly. A sound issued from his helmet.

He was _laughing._

Garland slammed the point of his sword into the ground and pulled himself upright, leaning on it heavily. "Only four of your side still walk free," he said. "Turn away from the land of discord. You must kill Mateus before we crush you, if you wish to fight in the next cycle of this war."

"Can't--" Krile winced and carefully gathered her breath before she spoke again. "Can't you stop him yourself?"

"No! It is Cosmos versus Chaos. Order versus Discord. But he will remember if he lives to the end of it, and he will break you as he did Firion--existing in limbo, such that the cycle will never complete. If you defeat him, then I will slay you, and the Great Will can be fulfilled."

It didn't sound like a great offer to Krile. But if he did continue the battle, it would be to the death, so she nodded. Without looking back, Garland limped towards the doors and departed the temple. Krile waited until they had swung shut to make sure he really was gone. Then she whimpered and collapsed against the wall. Potion... she fumbled in her sash and unscrewed the top, drinking it down as fast as she could stomach it. The sharp pain became a dull ache, but it would take more than that to fix everything. Even slumped against the wall she felt fatigued. But she made herself half-jump and half-climb into what remained of the gallery, where she had found that luminous bell, and reached into her sash again for the other emergency item that she'd kept on her.

"Perfect for a warrior traveling alone, kupo!" Mogretta had said about the sleeping bag. "Restorative and well-camouflaged!" Well. Here she was, alone. And Hope was somewhere far worse, alone. She felt sick at the thought of sleeping through whatever tortures Mateus had devised. _Why _had Gilgamesh taken her away? It didn't do much good to ask that. But she wished they hadn't found him again. Maybe Seifer would have gotten both of them then, but she'd rather be plotting escape with Hope together than looking for him on her own.__

__Still, she couldn't go on without rest. If she met even a manikin it would kill her, and then Hope would be left without any. She unrolled the sleeping bag and crawled inside, hoping it would work as well as Mogretta had claimed._ _


	13. Kefka's Tower

As soon as Hope saw Gilgamesh drag Krile through the portal, he turned on Seifer, throwing whatever spell he could to break free. Seifer only needed to cast one, with a single word: _Pain._

Things kept happening after that. For a while be bounced on Seifer's shoulder like a bag of flour, and then he dragged along the ground by his collar. He couldn't see, couldn't move; he could only feel his life draining from his pores. Seifer's footsteps clanged over metal and something slid open. Hope bounced off of glass and landed on a cold, unforgiving surface. When was he going to black out already? 

"Just the one?" said a voice, familiar. "And not even the one I require. All that sound and fury of revenge and he isn't even bleeding."

"Do you want him to bleed or _suffer?_ Let's see you throw the switch."

A lengthy pause. "My... testing... is not yet complete. It will have to wait."

"Really? I thought you were the genius out of all us lowly worms. Still, maybe it ain't my place to question Chaos' own _Despot..._ "

Gradually Hope realized he was no longer struggling to draw breath, but as the pain ebbed from his muscles, lead flowed in to replace it. He couldn't focus on the voices, or the sounds and smells; all he could do was surrender as sleep finally took hold.

***

Hope woke up and winced. Even his eyelids ached. When he managed to separate them he had to blink several times to make sure he was seeing right. This wasn't a prison cell, it was a big glass capsule. After listening for a few minutes, he pushed himself up carefully and rubbed at the marks the metal grating had pressed into his arms and legs. This wasn't a jail, it was some kind of factory: metal floors and metal walls and metal ceilings with pipes all around. There was no sign of Seifer or Mateus, but they were bound to turn up sooner or later. Hope put his hands against the thin barrier, wondering if he could break himself out. Krile would do that first thing, he was sure. He looked more closely at the other capsules and noted that the heavy metal caps were supported only by the glass. Not a good idea, then.

There was some kind of control panel on the wall, covered in levers and dials. He was pretty sure the thing in the middle was a voltage meter... but of course it was no good trying to guess at the functions from over here. He groaned in frustration. Did that mean he was stuck until Krile and Gilgamesh rescued him? That got under his skin--useless again. He'd been completely useless against Seifer, too. No, Seifer wouldn't have been after them in the first place if Hope hadn't latched onto Ashe like some kind of remora. He'd just let his fright and anger run wild since he'd come to in that courtyard. Now he was frightened again, but the only one to really be angry at--aside from the gods--was himself.

At the least he could heal himself up--or he thought so until he cast the spell. The green light was sucked through the grate instantly.

"You'll only drain yourself like that." Hope bit down on a yelp of surprise. The voice had come right from the floor. He looked around wildly and saw its owner in a nearby capsule. No wonder he hadn't noticed her until now. She was _tiny_ ; if she was as much as six years old he would be shocked. But she looked completely unafraid, sitting there in striped pajamas and a weird little cape. "I didn't mean to startle you, sir. Are you feeling all right?"

Hope looked at their surroundings more closely. The noise must have gone through the pipes, and part of him noted that as a useful fact. But the majority of him was grappling with the idea that he had just been called _sir._ "Uh--yeah. I'm fine. What are you doing in here?"

"I'm a hostage for my brother's good behavior, sir. My name is Porom, white mage of... I don't think we've met, have we?"

"My name's Hope." Something else occurred to him. "If your brother is here, does that make you the Twins?"

Porom nodded. "And if your name is Hope, then you must be the one Cosmos calls the Esperance, right?"

"Right." Boy, he'd be in trouble if Krile figured out that's what Esperance meant. He batted the thought away. "How could Cosmos bring you two here? You're just a little kid!"

The smile on her face vanished. "Maybe Cosmos doesn't judge by appearance alone, sir?"

"No, that's not--I mean, you shouldn't be made to fight. She shouldn't have summoned you." Porom still looked affronted. Hope groaned. Was he the only person in the world who thought that children shouldn't be forced into life-or-death combat? He looked around to see if he could spot the other one; there were plenty of capsules set in the alcoves or out on the edge of the catwalks. "What about your brother, where is he?"

"He's a black mage. Xande the Sorcerer likes using him to bait warriors of Cosmos." Her tone pretty clearly indicated that this was a dumb plan on Xande's part. Then her eyes went wide and she curled up, hiding her face in her knees. Hope heard the heavy clunk of boots across metal just in time to fling himself to the other side of the capsule. Seifer slammed an arm into it from behind, looking down with an unpleasant smile.

"Well, well, well, the deserter's awake. Just in time for the blindfold and the last cigarette."

Hope knew he was helpless in here. Alone, unarmed, unable to use magic, there was nothing he could do to defend himself. But he balked at the thought of being terrorized with impunity. He glared, pouring as much defiance into his voice as he could. "What do you want?"

"Tch, didn't anyone teach you manners? I'm here doing you a favor. I know you're thinking that toy knight of yours is gonna rescue you." Seifer paused, waiting for a retort, but Hope didn't want to play into whatever vainglorious script was running through Seifer's brain. "I ran into that big red moron again, and guess what? He lost her."

"What?" Hope caught himself and shook his head. "No way. Why should I believe you?"

"Don't impugn my integrity. I'm a Knight of Chaos, not like these idiot schemers." Seifer leaned against the capsule. "What's she gonna do next, I wonder. Maybe she'll strike out for Chaos country to find you. Too bad that isn't where we are... but I'm sure someone will show her the way. There's only four on your side left, and eight of us." He grinned, watching Hope do the math in his head. "If she's lucky, I won't be the one she meets. She'll get a quicker death."

"Don't count on it!" Hope stood up, fists clenched, but it didn't make a difference when you were facing someone over a foot taller. "She's tougher than you think."

Seifer laughed. "You mean like she was on the airship? If that's the best she can do I ain't worried. Forget it, Hopeless. She's not even supposed to be in this world."

Hope clenched his fists. "Stop calling me that."

The mirthless smile vanished from Seifer's face. "What makes you think you're in charge here? This is war, and you're an enemy prisoner. I can do anything I want." A loud sniffling sound interrupted--loud enough Hope could hear it through the glass as well as the floor, and Seifer turned away with a look of disgust. "Ugh. Not this again."

"Please, p-please stop, sir! You're--you're so cruel..."

"Pathetic. This ain't a prison, it's a goddamn daycare." He raised his voice to be heard over Porom's wailing. "At least your brother's got a spine! If I have to watch this one more time I'm gonna lose my lunch." He turned on his heel and stormed off, kicking open the exit.

That left Hope alone with a terrified little girl and no way to help her. "Hey, are you okay?" he said. "He's--uh--" Porom looked up at him not with tears but with a rather self-satisfied smile. "What was that just now?"

"Just a trick to make enemies go away." She dried her eyes with a neat little handkerchief. "Who was he talking about?"

"Her name is Krile," said Hope, watching carefully, but there was no hint of recognition on Porom's face. That was odd, since she'd been able to put his name to a title, and he wondered if there was something to Seifer's claim. "She's my age, and she's my height. Blonde hair. She uses a lance that she's really good with. And she's cheerful, except she's always laughing at some corny joke she just made. She's reckless, too. It's like she tries to protect every single person she meets..." He realized Porom was staring blankly at him. "Uh. And she's got a purple cape." 

"I'll tell Palom to look for her, sir."

"Just call me Hope." He felt around the edges of the capsule, looking for the latch, and remembered the pipes. "These capsules are connected. Did you get anything when I cast that spell before?"

Porom looked thoughtful. "I did feel it. Do you think that's useful?" 

Hope grinned. This was perfect. Porom probably was good at magic if she was here in the first place, and--wait, no. He shook his head. "There's no way Mateus would do this... put us in a prison where we can cast spells on each other? He's not that dumb."

"The Emperor doesn't know how anything in here really works."

Hope looked up sharply. He was about to claim disbelief, but then he remembered the conversation between Mateus and Seifer. "Then why are we here?"

Porom looked around the stark factory floor. "It was all Kefka's idea. This place is his domain, and using it was part of his plan."

"Right. Let me guess: Mateus stabbed him in the back to take over. Pretty dumb not to get the instructions first..." He stopped, because Porom was staring down at her lap. For the first time, she actually looked like a child. 

"Kefka wasn't killed by the Emperor."

"Then who did it?" He asked the question automatically and regretted it instantly as she shrunk even more. It couldn't have been her and her brother, could it? No way... no, wait. Of course it could've been them. Especially if they were on their own. "I mean, never mind. It's not my business."

"Sorry."

Hope shook his head. "Don't be sorry. You--" He was going to say that she hadn't done anything wrong, and he stopped himself just in time. He was doing this again, only thinking about the way he felt. Porom and her brother shouldn't have been brought here, shouldn't have been put in a position where they had to kill or be killed, and they absolutely shouldn't feel responsible for the capable adult warriors that should have been looking after them. But saying that, trying to make her feel the way he thought she should feel, that wouldn't do a thing to help her right now. And he shouldn't have been put in a position where he was responsible for a kindergartner in a war zone, but now that he was here, he was. "I'm going to come up with a plan to get everyone out of here."

That made her look up again. "You are?"

"Yeah." He tried to grin. It felt lopsided. "But I need your help. If we can cast magic into each other's cells--there has to be a spell so one of us can get out and figure out that control panel over there. Then we can free the other prisoners too." The only problem was that he didn't think he had a spell that would actually help. He could probably cast some elemental magic into Porom's cell to break the glass, but that would hurt her. Everything else he could think of wouldn't really be useful until _after_ one of them got out.

"Oh!" Porom jumped up with a big smile. "I can cast Mini on you! Then maybe you can crawl out through the bottom grate!"

"Let's do it!" said Hope. He had never heard of a spell called Mini before, but it was worth a shot. He stood up, took a deep breath, and nodded at her.

The magic hit him like a hammer. Almost literally. For one very long second it felt like every cell in his body was getting squashed flat, and then he blinked and looked up at the towering skyscraper of glass above him. The grating on the floor gaped at his feet like so many oblong pits. "Okay," he said, in a voice that still sounded surprisingly normal in his ears. Then he carefully sat on the edge, squeezed through, and let go.

He fell through the air gently as a leaf and landed on his feet. A tapping sound echoed through the massive pipe, and he followed it until he saw Porom looking down at him. "Good thinking!" he said, and then picked a direction to start moving in. There were openings to the pipes here and there. Hope peeked through and saw the other two prisoners: a boy a few years older than him dressed in black leather and white fur, and further along the row, a young woman in a pink dress. It was much more familiar than Ashe's antique garb or the Warrior's armor, but they were also unconscious. No wonder Porom and her brother were still hanging around. Two kids with an overdeveloped sense of responsibility wouldn't want to abandon their comrades.

A door opened somewhere on the floor below. Hope ran to a vent and watched a huge man in gaudy silks stride in. Xande, no doubt. He had a manikin with him, which he prodded along with his scepter until they reached a platform that clanked and whirred up to the catwalks. At their heels sulked a boy who was a match for Porom, right down to the striped pajamas, and he subsequently sulked away towards Porom's capsule. Hope could hear the indistinct sounds of Palom's voice, and a stern "sixteen" from Porom that mystified him. There was no point eavesdropping on them, though--Hope jumped forward, skimming over the ground like he'd seen Krile and Ashe do.

He ran up the walls of a vertical pipe and stopped at another grate... and then he gasped as he finally focused on the manikin itself. It was _him_ , stepping obediently into a capsule that looked like it had been used before, the glass stained and sooty. Hope gulped and tore his eyes away from that bland quartz face to watch Xande work the controls. He didn't seem at home with the dials and switches at all, glaring at them as he adjusted. Then he threw the lever on the left side.

Hope shielded his eyes as the light burst forth, but he couldn't block out the manikin's distorted screams as electricity coursed over its body. The lightning flashed a dozen different colors as the manikin's agony rose in pitch, before it settled on the same brilliant pink. Then the light exploded, bright as a supernova, and ended with a strangely small _tink_ as something fell to the floor of the capsule.

No wonder Seifer thought that killing them was the merciful option.

Xande threw the other lever to open it. He held a chunk of crystal up to the light, turning it this way and that. Then he smiled and tucked it into the pouch at his belt. "Boy! Come with me."

"We just got back!" Palom whined. "Since when do you want to go out and fight? I thought you had to talk to the Garish Emperor."

"There's no need for his involvement. Hurry up!"

"Yeah, yeah." Palom huffed a theatrical sigh and followed Xande out. Hope squeezed out of the vent and jumped up onto one of the catwalk railings, skimming along until he saw a manikin of Mateus, and then Mateus himself. He flung himself into the nearest vent and managed to squeeze back into his capsule. 

"Porom! Cast it again quick!" Hope popped back into his full size just in the nick of time. Mateus and his doppleganger were laying or throwing traps over every inch of the place they could, making it all that much harder for them to effect a rescue of two unconscious people.


	14. Empyreal Paradox

Krile awoke to silence in the ruins. No enemies, no friends either. She rolled up the sleeping bag and started humming again as she left the gateway. The lands ahead revealed other figures at last--sparkling, sharp-edged figures that resembled those she met and those she hadn't. She spotted two at a distance, locked in battle. It was true, then, that Cosmos and Chaos both employed the manikins. Without any way to tell who was who, Krile had to detour around them, fretting over the delay. She wished Hope was here to poke around at their surroundings and complain about gods. And then he'd probably badger her about whether or not she was okay.

Krile looked up at the feeble sun and shivered with the knowledge that a full day had passed. She wouldn't be okay until she knew whether or not Hope was. Seifer didn't seem like the kind to dawdle.

***

She stepped through the next gateway and gasped aloud. For a moment she was sure she was in her own world, or rather, above it. Surrounded by stars and velvet black, with the blue crystals standing sentinel around a great orange one that was many times higher than her, Krile had to look for the dim outline of the gate to make sure she really hadn't escaped into outer space.

She looked around again and gasped as the crystals' facets threw light onto a recumbent figure, staring upwards into the void. Light rippled across the transparent floor as she ran to him, skidding on her knees to shake his shoulder. "Light Warrior!"

His hand snapped around her wrist as he came to, but he loosened his grip as recognition dawned. "Krile."

"You're hurt! What happened?"

"Beware of Xande." The warrior pushed himself into a sitting position slowly, setting his teeth against the pain and ignoring the sound of alarm that Krile made. "He uses a captured ally as a distraction and shield."

"Stop moving around! Which ally? Where did they go?"

"Palom, and undoubtedly Porom as well--they are small mages." The warrior looked past her, searching. "Where is Hope?"

The distant planet below glittered like a bed of jewels, but its beauty was lost on Krile as she looked down. "Seifer captured him. I was on my way to rescue him." She didn't say she wasn't sure if he was even still alive, because there was no point in looking for Hope with an attitude like that, and she didn't dare say it out loud.

"Seifer is a formidable swordsman. How did you escape?"

"I didn't want to!" she exclaimed, before realizing that she'd read a reproach that wasn't there. She took a deep breath. Hope was a prisoner and the warrior, always upright and unyielding as a statue, was on the ground with his face half covered in blood. It was no time to get flustered. "Gilgamesh took me away from the battle. But then he got himself lost. And then Garland told me where to find Mateus."

The warrior frowned. "There is no doubt you carry the light of Cosmos. How is it that you still consort with her enemies?"

"I'm not consorting!" Krile said. "Garland still wants kill me, but he said to get rid of Mateus first." She felt a strange feeling churning up within, a kind of anger that felt completely unfamiliar. "But Gilgamesh isn't an enemy. He helped me! And he didn't lie to me like Cosmos did!"

The warrior went very still. It was a gradual change in his countenance, the way a cloud gradually blackened into a thunderhead. "Cosmos is no liar."

His icy gaze, framed by blood, made Krile want to scoot backwards. Even sitting down and helmetless, his ire couldn't be faced down lightly. But Hope had scolded the goddess herself even thinking she would smite him for it. "Gilgamesh told me my grandfather was _here!_ And he had to have been on your side, with Cosmos! But she said she didn't know anything about him. Why would she do that?"

"If she said he wasn't here, he wasn't here."

Krile stood up and felt suddenly disoriented, looking down at the top of his head. It struck her forcibly that she was arguing with a wounded man. But she had to understand this deception. "You were right there when I asked her about the old man who brought me here. She said she had no idea what I meant!"

The warrior didn't break eye contact as the silence stretched out. She remembered what she had said before, that he seemed like a person who told the truth. That felt like a long time ago now. She still couldn't imagine him as dishonest, but there was no other explanation for what had happened.

"What makes an old man different from another man?"

The floor might as well have fallen out from under her.

She hadn't known what response to expect. Justifications, maybe, admonishment certainly. But this? "Old folks have... white hair..." She looked at the silver tresses that spilled over his shoulders. Between him and Hope, that was no good. "Um... and wrinkles... he had a mustache...." She trailed off, flabbergasted that she had to even define it. And yet comprehension dawned in the warrior's eyes.

"The Sage had that appearance."

"Sage? _Sage?_ He wasn't a sage, he was a silly old fool!" It burst out of Krile before she could think what she was saying, and she clapped a hand over her mouth. They had known Grandpa. The warrior had fought alongside him. She could have asked him as soon as they'd met and found out everything. Now there was no way she could get the answers she yearned for. Hope still needed her, Hope and the other Cosmos warriors. Krile swallowed hard. She had to rescue them. But the warrior obviously wasn't in a condition to storm a castle. What was she going to do?

"Your course is clear," the warrior said. "You must continue on to Mateus' stronghold."

"And leave you here? I can't do that!"

He shook his head. "At present, I would only burden you. I will catch up when I've recovered."

"Who knows what's going to show up between now and then? There's manikins out there and you're the one who said we should stick together!" said Krile, aghast at how willing the warrior was to be abandoned.

"I said you must be able to fight alone at need, and you are." 

Krile at first shook her head. She didn't want to leave him, hurt and alone. She didn't want to go on by herself. But while she didn't know what feelings the warrior understood, she felt sure that _want_ wasn't among them. He wouldn't look away, not to be talked out of his decision. Krile was sure there had to be some other solution, but before she could think of it the gate opened to admit a boy in a striped outfit.

"Palom..." The warrior gave Krile a stern glance. "Do not harm him."

Krile stared at Palom, stunned at how young he was. As though she would even consider it!

Palom's eyes bugged out and he spun on his heel. "Whoa boy! Hey, Mr. Bigshot Sorcerer, it's _two_ Cosmos warriors! Fresh as daisies! You don't stand a chance! Better run for it right now!"

"What?!" The huge, shirtless figure that stepped through after the boy seemed to waver halfway through, as though he was trying to backtrack before the portal shoved him through. He staggered, his feet hovering slightly above the ground. Strangely he seemed to take Palom's claim at face value, looking ready to dive right back out until he saw how slowly the warrior stood up. "No. He's still injured, you little fool. This is perfect!"

"Are you crazy? He killed Exdeath! And who knows what kind of crazy powers this new chick has!" said Palom. "Hey! Let's go back to the _desert_ in the _north_ before--OW!" The sorcerer belted him on the head with a staff. 

Krile hurried to get in front. The warrior wasn't in a condition to take on this foe. Xande focused on her as she called her lance. "You must be the interloper." He pulled a chunk of pink crystal from his pockets. "I don't see the point taking you alive. Not when we could kill two birds... with one... stone." 

"Run for it!" yelled Palom as the sorcerer hurled the stone into the air and hit it with a spell. Fire and lightning and ice exploded in all directions, shattering the blue crystals into pieces. With nowhere to seek cover, Krile tried throwing her earth magic back at the onslaught. The vines and stones just barely held back the firestorm--little nicks of pain struck on her arms and legs, across one cheek. She knew her meager shield wouldn't last long. But as quickly as it began, the bombardment ceased. That was strange but she was ready to take advantage and charge Xande until she heard the gasp and the thud behind her.

She ran to the warrior and managed to pull him to his knees. But he was much bigger and heavier than Hope. He looked at her, intent on towing him out of danger, and at Xande, who had tossed the stone aside and now raised his staff. The warrior raised his hands. " _Shine!_ "

The shield of light threw her backwards through the air, but without the searing pain the last time he'd used it. For an instant Krile saw a massive fireball plummeting towards him. Then the planet, the crystals, and the stars vanished as she landed painfully in the outerworld.

She scrambled to her feet and ran right back into the gateway. All that remained of the battle were a few faded scorch marks and the warrior's helmet.

***

Krile had paused only to pick up the crystallite and from then on she marched ahead doggedly. She had no choice but to march ahead doggedly. Nothing had changed, she told herself, one more person to rescue didn't make much difference.

Or two, because the clash of weapons reached her ears once more. Krile ran towards the noise and, saw under the lifeless sky, a crystalline doppleganger of the light warrior swinging his sword at a woman defending herself with daggers. Her long blue hair flew as she fended him off, trying to cut an opening, but his defense was too good. He drove forward with sword and shield as she flagged visibly. Krile rushed in to help without another thought.

At first, the manikin ignored her yell of distraction. He even ignored the jab from her lance, so intent was he on cutting down the enemy in front of him. When he finally did turn his empty eyes on Krile, the woman lunged, driving her daggers into his sides as Krile stabbed him through the chest. She flinched from his broken death-cry as his body splintered and fell into shards between them, but the woman simply sighed in relief as she dismissed her weapons and brushed aside the hair that had escaped her bandana. "Thankee, lass. A few seconds more and I'd be naught but fish food."

"Are you all right?" said Krile, looking her over. The woman's outfit didn't do much to hide injuries, and there was enough blood to be worrisome, but the woman waved a hand and pulled out a potion.

"'Tis nothing that won't mend. Me name's Leila. Be ye all on yer own out here?"

"I was up till now--I'm Krile. I'm looking for Hope."

Leila barked a laugh. "Hate to break it to ye, lass, but that's an impossible quest yer on."

But in spite of that bleak reply, Krile found herself smiling. Leila's countenance, her mode of speech, and her bearing for some reason put the word _pirate_ into Krile's head, and somehow it gave her a rush of warmth. "No, no, I mean my friend's name is Hope. Mateus captured him... I think he's captured everyone but the two of us. But I know where he is! Will you help me?"

"Mateus, eh..." Leila gave her a strange look. "I'd not worry overmuch. The Despot be a vicious son of a bilgerat, but he's wasted all his time on the making of crystallite and he's nowhere yet near. Yer friends be locked up, but no worse."

The first feeling was relief. Then confusion. "But... he already had crystallite. Ashe took it and used it against him, and Xande had a piece himself--"

"She did _what?!_ " Leila roared, and grabbed one half-healed cut with a wince as Krile stepped back in alarm. "That fool of a princess... did she never realize? Claiming to be his friend when he was the very stone in 'er hand--"

Firion? The crystallite had been made from _Firion?_ Krile's eyes went wide in horror and she clapped a hand over her mouth. Now that Leila said it, there had been a familiar look to those spells just now. It was exactly like the way Hope cast them."No... no wonder Seifer..." She grabbed Leila's arm desperately. "Is there any way to turn them back? If--if it's made out of them--what can we do?!"

Leila looked down at her, not saying a word. Then she sighed. "Ye can hold still."

The sound of a weapon called to hand rang in the air. Krile looked down at it, at first uncomprehending. "Leila, what are you doing?"

"Tisn't a bright idea to trust a warrior of Chaos--or did ye not know? All the copies of that armor shop belong to yer own goddess."

Krile's mouth fell open in shock. What an idiot. Of course, it was only enemies left now--her body moved quicker than her thoughts, dodging a strike aimed at her heart.

"Listen, if ye die now, the cycle ends and ye come back next to yer young lad--if you'd just--hold bloody-- _OW!_ " Leila flailed at the swarm of squirrels that clawed and bit its way all over her. Krile lunged, driving the butt end of her lance into the woman's stomach, knocking most of the air out of her lungs with an _ufff._ The rest of it left in another gasp as Krile cannoned into her, tackling her to the ground.

Krile held the shaft of her lance across Leila's throat, breathing hard. She didn't know where that had come from, but she was glad it did. Leila lay with her arms splayed out, her knives flung over the ground. She struggled to draw breath into her lungs, finally managing enough to wheeze out two words. "Finish it."

Of course. That was the rule in this world, wasn't it? The warrior would do it. Ashe had done it. But as Krile looked into Leila's eyes, she knew that she wasn't going to make the same choice. In spite of Leila's actions, Krile couldn't believe her to be an evil person. She stood up slowly, keeping her lance held ready, and asked the same question she had asked Yuffie back on the moonscape. "Why are you fighting for Mateus' sake?"

Leila hadn't been angry when she'd drawn her knives. Now she snarled at Krile in barely-controlled rage. "I do _nothing_ for that despotic scum! I was tryin' ter spare ye from his plans. 'Twould be a kinder end than ye would get from the rest of those lubbers."

"Murdering someone isn't a kindness! You think being the only one left means I'll give up?" It would. It could, easily, except that Krile had no idea what she would do if she admitted defeat. "If you want to help, then why don't we fight together?"

"Did I not just tell ye I'm on the side of Chaos?"

"Chaos, schmaos!" Leila, looking deeply skeptical, raised her eyebrows. Krile lowered her weapon. "I know, on my own, I couldn't beat all of you. But what do you think Mateus will do once I'm gone?" Mateus, who called everyone insects and worthless, who even his own side held as an enemy... it was a nasty suspicion that formed in Krile's mind. A week ago she wouldn't have considered it, but now it seemed obvious. "Once he's done with her warriors, he'll start turning your 'side' into crystallite too. It doesn't matter which god you're working for. We need to stop him. It's not as though Cosmos is the one who called me here anyway."

Leila shook her head. "Yer a miniature madwoman. Ye fall out of the sky and next ye want the help of an enemy and a brigand?" The look on her face shifted, and she barked a laugh. "I think I like the sound of it!"

"You--you do? Really?"

"Better'n anything I've heard since I woke up 'ere." Leila got to her feet and grinned. "Now ye bring it up, I never heard any reason why I can't stick me knife in that bilgerat. Never you fear, lass. I'll see you into that workshop o' horrors, and I've never been beat yet."


	15. Kefka's Tower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so long! The end of the semester's still chaotic when you're a grad student.

Hope stood in the capsule, tapping his fingers together nervously as he watched the imitation Mateus drift around the prison. Studiously observing its pattern of movement had led him to conclude that it had no pattern of movement. It just meandered around like a malicious ant, renewing any traps that had faded and staring at him with cold, faceted eyes if it chanced to pass by the prisoners. That ruined Hope's idea to sneak around miniaturized--he couldn't predict where to hide from its patrol, and if it saw him missing it was probably smart enough to do something about it.

So instead he interrogated Porom for all she knew about Chaos' operations. She had jumped at the chance to help him, and she and Palom made surprisingly insightful observers. For one thing, it wasn't actually Chaos' operation. "The others don't like Mateus and his plots," she told him. "Only Xande is really his ally, and we just saw he's not much of one. I'm not sure what that Seifer is doing, but everyone else on Chaos' side just wants to kill us all as soon as possible."

"Oh. That's efficient of them." Hope pressed a hand to the glass. He had thought that if anything bad happened to Krile out there, it would be getting captured like him. But now it sounded like she would run into someone who had no interest in taking her alive. And he was still sitting in this stupid tube!

"Um..." Porom's hesitant voice snapped him out of his fretful reverie. "If I might ask... what's your plan?"

A plan, right. He'd promised to come up with one. Hope looked around for inspiration. "This whole place runs on electricity," he said. "We'll figure out what controls what around here. You said your brother's a black mage? Between the three of us, I think--I mean we will turn it against them." 

That relied on Palom coming back soon. And just as Hope thought that, the door on the ground level swung open. Porom looked down and yelped in alarm as the dying clang of metal blended with Palom's yelling. " _Quiet!_ " roared Xande as he came into view, gripping Palom's ear firmly. The other hand was weighed down with a bloodied, blue-armored form. Implausibly, Xande flew up through the air to the factory floor to hurl the unconscious Warrior of Light into an empty capsule.

The magic within lifted the unresisting man to float a few inches above the ground, head lolling to the side. Before Hope could absorb the horror of this sight, a new cacophany dragged his eyes away. Xande was lifting Palom to eye level. The boy screeched in pain, grabbing his captor's wrist to try and take the weight off his ear. "Did you think you could fool me?! I know all about your spying and sabotage! Now both of you will pay the price."

He flung Palom into the wall. Porom screamed. Without thinking, Hope pounded the glass with his fists. " _Hey! Leave him alone!_ "

Xande floated over, and Hope realized how enormous the man actually was--he rivaled the warrior in height and breadth. "You brats think you're so cunning," he snarled. "Blundering around with your crystals and your canoes... but you will not keep me from the immortality I deserve!"

"Oh yeah?!" It wasn't an original line, but it kept Xande's attention on Hope. "I don't see how a bunch of pet rocks makes you immortal. Especially when Mateus figures out you're trying to two-time _him._ "

"What do you know, boy? Mateus is an arrogant fool. It is I who will... will..." Xande's eyelids drooped and he slumped forward. His bare skin squeaked against the glass as he slid down, fast asleep. Hope let out an audible sigh of relief. He'd been frantically gesturing with one hand behind his back for the past thirty seconds, hoping that Xande would forget he hadn't locked up his other captive yet.

"Okay, I shut him up," said Palom, wincing as he nursed his ear. "Now what?"

"Pull the lever--no, the one on the right!" The capsule slid open at last and Hope crouched down in front of Palom to look over his injuries. He cast a healing spell to start with; it was amazing that Xande hadn't broken any bones just now. But the sight of the cool green light made Palom groan.

"Ugh, another white mage? I'm gonna have to carry all the offense myself!"

"No kidding. I can tell you're the expert in _offensive._ " 

For a second, Palom looked pleased at the compliment. Just the one. " _Hey!_ "

Hope had to grin as he threw open Porom's capsule. She bolted past him, grabbing Palom, turning him around, pushing through his hair to check for bumps and peering at his face for bruises. "Are you all right? How bad did he hurt you? Did you break anything?"

Palom made another face and brushed her off. "I'm fine, sis, geez! Honestly, I-- _ow!_ "

"Good. That's one. I'll do the rest when we have time." Then she looked up at Hope, and Palom, rubbing his head where she'd bopped it, did the same.

They were waiting for instructions.

Oh no. Had he looked like this when they met Ashe? Was this how she'd felt when she realized he was hanging on her every word? Hope stared at them and then at Xande, trying to think. Their whole _definitely-a-prisoner_ ruse was over, that was for sure. Once Xande woke up he'd bring the roof down on them. "Okay." It was a word to buy time. He looked around and didn't see that manikin anywhere. "We should let everyone out. Porom, they'll need healing--you up to it?"

"Of course!"

Palom clasped his hands behind his head. "What a slave driver. I told your lady friend where to go--can't we take it easy until she shows up?"

"I've had it with sitting around. If we can stand up and fight, we should." Hope realized as he said it that wasn't the kind of advice he wanted to give young children. He had to be more careful. "Uh, let's find the control for the lights, too..." The door on the lower level scraped open a second time. Two voices, one unfamiliar and one horribly not, echoed through the factory. Hope did a quick mental calculation and decided he couldn't take on Seifer and his 'posse' with just two kindergartners for backup. "Porom, quick! Cast Mini!"

***

Hands behind her back, Krile stared at the ground as Leila argued with Seifer at the gate. "What the hell is this? You vanish on me for weeks, and now you say you've claimed my reward! I was lookin' forward to hunting the interloper."

"Ye never could beat me in a speed contest," said Leila, idly flipping a knife from one hand to the other. "Lemme in. I need t' talk ter the man in charge."

Seifer straightened up from his insolent lounge against the stone arch. "Since when are you on his side? I thought you two were best enemies."

"I'll be at 'is side just long enough to drive a blade through it. But if I want him to come out, I need t'pay a toll." Krile curled her fingers as Leila prodded her. "This is it."

"Heh... you realize you're talking about treason against another Warrior of Chaos. Why should I allow it?" Seifer asked, sounding amused.

"Cos ye know as well as I do that 'e fed Yuffie to Princess Vengeance out there. Besides... even if ye were really his matey, ye still owe me." Seifer went rigid. "I saved yer hide from that plucky little squire, remember?"

"That's right, you did." It was a grudging admission. "Fine. You have the right to Mateus. But I have the right to her. Got it, Brigand?"

"Loud'n clear, sir knight." Leila's hand gripped Krile's shoulder to propel her inside. Krile kept silent as the two of them bantered over her head. It sounded a little stiff, but nonetheless she could hear the echoes of a camaraderie once shared. Krile could imagine the three of them, Leila, Seifer, and Yuffie, adventuring across the wastelands, and she wished more than ever that she could have stopped Ashe. But this was no time to dwell on regrets. She glanced around under her eyelids at Mateus' stronghold. This was no castle dungeon--it was more like the train, all metal and machines. Cosmos warriors floated unconscious inside glass cells. Hope was not among them. The sick dread rose up from her heart, threatening to choke her, but she swallowed it back. She wouldn't cry in front. She just had to face the facts. Hope was gone. The best she could ask was that he'd be revived the next cycle.

Something went _clank_ and the harsh light vanished. A gust of wind sped past her. Seifer had time for half a yell before his head smacked against the metal wall. "Get away from her, you _toad!_ " screamed a young voice from the darkness. Whatever Leila had planned to say became an outraged croak and a splat as she hit the floor.

Krile brought her hands from beneath her cape to summon her lance just as the lights went back up. She looked around. There was Palom! No, this was a girl, though she looked very like him. She stood next to a metal switch, looking pleased, and curtsied. "Hello! You must be Miss Krile."

Unsure of what to say, Krile bowed. That brought two tiny figures into her line of sight. One was Palom himself, looking unbearably smug even at that size. And standing next to him... Krile dropped to her knees. "Hope! Oh my gosh--extracting the crystallite shrunk you?!"

"Huh? What? No! This is the plan to rescue you!"

"Yer miserable idjit, that's what _we're_ here for!" Leila, still wearing a bandana in her anuran form, hopped forward. "Do ye not know a ruse when ye sees one?!"

"It wouldn't be a very good one if they had, would it?" Krile giggled.

Palom put his hands on his hips. "What wouldn't be good? Hey, what are you talking about?!"

"She says--" Krile blushed as Leila's croaks changed pitch. "Um... it's not that nice...."

"Krile, you're--" Hope started to say _talking to a toad._ Because she was talking to a toad. "You were just--she had you prisoner, didn't she? Is she on our side or something?"

"Of course she isn't! That pirate's a warrior of Chaos!" said Palom. He stamped his foot as Leila croaked angrily. "You want to be a pig next, lady!?"

"No, don't! I know she's a Chaos warrior, but she was helping me!" Krile said before things could get worse. "Honestly, Palom, you can turn her back. And maybe you should turn yourselves back to normal too."

"That's _better,_ " Leila said a moment later, turning her hands over as though checking they weren't still flippers. "Now maybe we can get somewhere, aye?"

"Aye. I mean, uh, sure," said Hope. He felt weird and cramped from that spell, but before he could stretch it away, Krile barrelled into him. "Oof! Whoa, hey--"

She said nothing with words, just wrapped her arms around him tightly. Hope's face grew hot, too aware that they had an audience for this scene. But she didn't seem to care, and as she shifted her arms a little, his embarrassment gave way to relief. She was holding too tight for him to think she was seriously hurt... but she was still bruised and battered and he couldn't think she'd gotten enough rest lately either. He returned the embrace carefully, hoping he wasn't hitting any sore spots. "Hey. You're okay, right?" 

"Me?" Krile sounded incredulous. "You're the one who got locked in that tube! Are _you_ okay?!"

"All they did was gloat at me. I thought you were getting into all kinds of trouble! When Xande dragged the warrior in--are you sure you're not hurt?"

She shook her head. "I still had a couple of healing items from Mogretta." Apparently she thought that was reassuring. Hope just groaned and stepped back to cast a healing spell. "What? I thought you were a piece of crystallite! I thought that you... that I'd...."

"It was just a manikin," Hope said hurriedly and pulled her close again. He'd been so afraid he would lose her out there, but at least he'd had people to talk to. She had been wandering under that empty sky, all on her own for days. And that was what she was afraid of, wasn't it? She was more afraid of that than manikins and emperors. But here she was all the same. She'd even made friends with a Chaos warrior, ignoring the advice of elders, gods, and even him.

The two of them became aware of a steady tapping sound at this point. Leila uncrossed her arms as they finally looked up. "All set with the touchin' reunion? We got a puppet to unstring and yer mates to set loose."

"Right!" Krile summoned her spear. Hope grabbed her arm before she could use it--he'd been spot-on about her reaction--and remembered something.

"That manikin, where is it? It should have come after us by now."

"Oh... oh dear." Porom pointed. The thing stood at the occupied capsules and turned to flash its golden teeth at them, glinting with the light of crests and sparks that lay thick in the air. Even the artificial Mateus was a creature of petty malice. While they talked, it had layered trap after trap around the other prisoners, making them impossible to reach. And as everyone turned their attention towards it at last, it raised its staff.

A knife thudded into its stomach. The manikin plucked it out, unhindered, but in that half-second Leila vanished from beside Krile and Hope and appeared again in front of it. Both knives slashed crosswise across its neck. She stepped back and gave its head a little push--it toppled from its shoulders. The rest of the body stood confused for a moment and then crumpled to the floor.

Leila kicked it as it began to fragment into dust. "Shan't feel half as good as the real thing--blast! I thought 'twould strike its traps!"

Porom twisted her brooch. "They dissipate after a time, but there's no telling when the others will return... I'm sure it must have sent an alarm to the Emperor...."

Hope realized belatedly that she and her brother were staring back up at him. He hadn't noticed because he was busy examining the deadly barrier. "Oh. Hey, Porom, could you shut the lights off again?"

"You want them _off?_ " said Palom. "If we can't see them they'll go away? C'mon, old man, I thought you were smar--" He stopped as Porom threw the switch, making every trap stand out with a vivid glow. Hope pulled out his airwing, lined it up, and threw.

The pathetic weapon zipped through crests, bounced off mines, and struck hidden sparks as Hope manipulated its flight. But after the first few traps burst he barely had to move it at all. One bolt of magic struck the next crest, the missiles shot out and set off mines, cascading into an incandescent, electrical eruption around the glass tubes. When the light and the noise finally died away, Hope blinked away the stars in his eyes and saw only the dim blue glow of the capsules. "I think that should be all of them."

"Hm. You've got a good throwing arm for an old guy," said Palom. "Let's get these lollygaggers awake, sis--ow!"

"Two," she said cheerfully as she marched off.

Hope grinned at Krile. She grinned back, about to come up with a joke when Leila gave her a whack in the arm. "How's about we dig up the booty while you three take care o' the stiffs?" she said. "Mateus won't 'ave left 'em with full pockets."

Krile looked up as Hope nodded and walked away. Last time she'd let him out of her sight, he'd been captured and she'd been dragged off. "I think we should stick together."

"Those two whelps aren't about ter let anyone get near without hurtin'," said Leila. "And he seems tougher than 'e looks. They'll be fine for a minute or two."

Krile opened her mouth to protest. But as she looked back, she found herself thinking again. Hope was standing differently now, much differently than when she'd found him hiding beneath the castle wall. Back then he'd been searching for someone to follow, trying to be more angry than afraid. Now Palom and Porom looked to him. He might not be totally at ease with it, but he wasn't turning away from them either. She smiled. "I guess you're right. But let's still hurry, okay?"

The warriors of Chaos had shoved all the prisoners' gear into a single capsule, set deep into a back corner. Weapons, armor, and supplies crashed down in a heap when Leila threw the lever. Krile caught the warrior's sword by the hilt as it teetered and fell--it was no inconsequential weight. "Looks like--Leila?" She waved a hand. The pirate stopped shooting glances over her head to shoot a glare down at her. Krile looked back in that direction as Hope started shutting down the magic controls. "You're worried they'll fight, aren't you?"

"O' course they'll fight. I'd wager they're as fond o' me as Seifer is of you."

"Yes, but we--" Krile stopped as the cold realization stole through her. Of course Leila hadn't just fought and retreated. She had killed people outright. Just as she had almost done to Krile not so long ago. Krile thought of the encounter Leila had mentioned to force Seifer's hand. That the fallen would revive in the next cycle seemed a cold comfort when Krile thought of how awful it had been to kill that first manikin, which had certainly looked like _a plucky little squire._ She looked down at the sword. "You got me in here, though. You killed that manikin. You're helping us now."

Leila lifted one shoulder. " _Now_ ain't about ter wash away _then._ " The sound of glass whirring open three times in succession drew both of their attention away. "Sounds like yer young man got things opened up. Let's get this over with."


	16. Kefka's Tower

Hope had just deactivated the last capsule when something stirred at the corner of his vision. He grabbed his airwing as Seifer rose and drew his gunblade, face settling into its characteristic murderous glare. "You got the nerve to stage a jailbreak right in front of the warden? Well, I ain't about to let you pull your great escape." Seifer's hard blue eyes flicked towards the boy with the mirror scar, trying to support himself with one hand against the glass. Then they went to the corner. An eager expression appeared on his face. "Leila! Looks like we got a fight on our hands. Just like old times, eh?"

Only Krile, watching closely, saw how Leila went rigid before she stepped forward. "Get out o' here, Seifer."

"What did you say?"

"Ye said so yerself back there: treason against Chaos. I'm settin' full sail."

Seifer opened and shut his mouth. He waited, as though expecting Leila to laugh off her declaration and join him again, but the seconds dragged on and she stayed where she was. His face hardened, all the hatred he had for Krile and Hope directed now towards her. "You despicable sea rat. What about Yuffie?!"

Leila looked down at Krile and Hope. "Aye, I held a grudge o' me own for a fair bit. But how many of their friends have died 'twixt the three of us? I'll not waste any more time on a battle I never chose. Not when 'twill just come 'round the same again."

Seifer's gunblade trembled in the air. "You know that's not how it is! If Cosmos wins that's it for our memories! Our _dreams!_ You join them and none of what we did matters!"

"It doesn't matter now, ye fool!" Leila roared. "I'll fight no more for a mad god who kills 'is own! 'Tis a shame it ends this way, but I know ye lack the sense to rebel with me!"

"The shame was that I ever gave you my trust in the first place."

Silence filled the room. Krile and Hope stood still; for all that Seifer had done, it hurt to see this breach. But there was no time to stand as the audience to this painful scene, because Leila had her knives out now and they were going to fight, right here in Mateus' headquarters, with half the warriors of Cosmos sick and dazed at their feet. Krile and Hope moved forward, ready to support as Leila and Seifer tensed like wolves preparing for the leap. Then another voice groaned.

Xande stood up slowly. The rage in his orange eyes evaporated as they bulged with alarm. The math was quite simple to him: he faced the full complement of his erstwhile prisoners, and their fresh-as-daisies rescuers ready to defend them. "Seifer. We're leaving."

Seifer turned to snarl out his opinion of such a course, but Xande waved his staff before there was a chance to hear it, whisking them away. Leila took a long breath in and out. Then she turned her wary gaze to the warriors of Cosmos. 

The warrior of light pushed his leonine mane out of his face. His bleariness lasted just as long as it took him to register the prescence of a Chaos warrior. He summoned his sword straight from Krile's arms with one outstretched hand and took a decisive step towards Leila. The other weapons crashed to the floor as Krile darted between them, slamming her hands against his breastplate with far more force than a small fourteen-year-old should have been able to exert against a man his size. "No, no, no! Don't you dare!"

"She's a warrior of Chaos!"

"She helped me rescue you!" Krile insisted. "She's a friend!"

"Heed the lass, would ye?" said Leila, standing well back. "I ain't sailin' under Chaos' colors anymore."

His eyes narrowed. Krile pushed back as he tried again to step forward; he was still not quite up to resisting her. "If it's _resolve_ you're thinking of, we already beat each other up and I trust her. Okay?"

"Ramza died at her hands. I cannot overlook that."

"I'm... I'm not saying that doesn't matter." She looked into the warrior's eyes. They didn't burn with anger like Ashe's. If asked, he would call this justice, a commitment to Cosmos. Krile was sure he would believe it. "We killed her friend. Do you think she doesn't feel that? But she joined us anyway. Whatever we did to each other in the past--we don't have to keep on doing it. We can change. Not for one side or the other, but for everyone brought to this world."

"She is tainted by the darkness of Chaos. Sentiment alone cannot take that away."

"Tainted by Chaos?" Hope looked up from his attempts to cast curative spells on Squall and Aerith. Something about the warrior's talk got under his skin. "So she was grabbed by the opposite god. That means we're not allowed to do anything but fight? We're not a bunch of black and white game pieces. We're human beings. And no matter what the gods think, we've got the power to decide what we do. I'll protect my friends, but I'm not going to kill someone just because Cosmos said so."

Another silence followed. Hope ducked his head, hiding from the stares, but Krile's hand squeezed his shoulder. She gave him a warm smile, seeming not at all self-conscious about having made a speech herself. He hoped the others would listen to either of them.

"He has a point." The words came from Squall. He pulled his hand away from the glass, wobbling but determined to stand up straight. "Being chosen by Chaos doesn't make someone inherently evil, any more than Cosmos makes someone good."

"Ah..." Aerith regarded the empty capsule with a shiver. "I don't mind philosophical discussion, but how about we get out of here before the Emperor comes to play devil's advocate? I've got deja vu and I don't think I want to know more."

Squall nodded. He glanced at Krile and Hope briefly as he called his gunblade; his expression was hard to read, but evidently he thought introductions could wait. "I'll take care of Seifer. The rest of you--"

"Oooh, let me guess: I'm a professional, amateurs like you just get in the way... I'm getting memories back every second with you around." Squall pressed his a palm to his face and said nothing. Aerith picked up her staff and walked after him. "How did that go last time?"

Krile and Hope looked at the warrior. He had not said a word, nor had he shown any emotion in the face of Hope's declaration, unless unyielding certainty counted as emotion. "You speak hastily on matters you little understand. There is more to the light, and Cosmos, than you know."

"If I'm wrong about Cosmos, she can prove it to me," said Hope. "Until she does, I'll decide for myself why I fight--and who to fight."

The warrior looked at them. Then he turned his eyes on Leila, who tensed, ready to defend herself if need be. "If you have resolved to fight alongside her, I will not stop you," he said, addressing Krile and Hope rather than her. And with that he turned and walked out without a backwards look. Krile wondered where his faith came from. She wasn't wrong, and neither was Hope, of that she was sure. But there had to be some reason he was so loyal to Cosmos when nobody else seemed to be.

She squeezed Hope's hand. "Well, I guess that's settled. Now what?"

"Uh--" He stared at her, and looked down, and back up. "I mean... well...."

"Mateus will be back to check on 'is liddle operation," said Leila. "I'd like t'see the look on his face when 'e sees what we've done with it. How about the rest o' ye?"

Porom looked up sharply. "You... want to wait here for him?"

"Sounds fishy," Palom added.

"Mateus likes traps," said Hope. He understood their suspicion, but he felt Leila could be trusted. And this was easier to think about than the hand situation. "I think maybe it's time we take a leaf out of his book."

* * *

Hope corralled Leila to help him turn the factory workings against the Emperor. Truthfully it wasn't that difficult to work out now that he wasn't filled with existential dread, and with Leila being from the same antiquated world as their foe she didn't have that much insight to offer. But she was the tallest out of their present group and it saved Hope from jumping up and down quite so much.

There was something about watching him absorbed in the minutiae of machinery that struck Krile as familiar. He seemed more at home now than he had at any time before, and it was fun to see him so intent at something he knew how to do. But having found the stash of weapons, she was on the lookout now for the restoratives that the Chaos warriors had looted from their prisoners. Plenty had been taken or used up already, but she and the twins started checking through the unused capsules anyway. 

She became aware of a muttered conversation behind her. "What are you two whispering about?"

Palom and Porom both jumped. "Nothing of consequence, miss," said Porom, with an admonishing look at Palom. "My brother has a fondness for spinning tall tales. It's one of his faults, I'm afraid."

"I'm not imagining things!" He marched up to Krile. "Do me a favor and say _tarnation,_ wouldja?"

Krile laughed, amused and bemused at the same time, and winked. "Why in tarnation would I do that?"

"See!" Palom whirled on Porom. "I told you! She's the one he was talking about!"

"The one who was talking about?" A feeling began to take hold. "Is this about me being an interloper again?"

Porom shook her head. "You shouldn't put stock in what Chaos' warriors say, miss--but--possibly?" She rubbed her chin and looked at Palom. "I suppose she does look a bit like him, doesn't she?"

"Prettier, though--ow!"

"Prettier than--" It hit her. "You mean my Grandpa!"

Porom clapped her hands over her mouth. "So you really are... oh... oh no!" She looked down in sudden and unaccountable remorse. "I'm so very sorry, Miss Krile...."

"Stop that!" Palom stamped his foot. "It wasn't your fault, sis! You tried every spell in the book--we both did!"

Krile knelt down slowly. Though it brought her to eye level with the twins, she hardly saw them past the memory that filled her heart. He had reached for her, the smile full of a warmth that filled her like a tangible thing when she touched his hand. That moment had lasted forever until she had opened her eyes to see the blue sky of the rift castle. She told herself that they didn't have time for this, that they had to prepare for Mateus' return. But she had missed all chance of asking the other warriors. "Please... tell me about him."

Porom took a deep breath, steadying her nerves, and Krile felt a stab of guilt to pain them with this question. "He was a warrior of Cosmos, like us. We traveled with him. But, then...."

"Kefka wanted us," said Palom. He clenched his small fists. "Something about the power of twins, I don't know. This whole crystallite thing was his idea to start with. Mateus, Xande--they're awful, but they're _normal_. With Kefka, there was nothing he wouldn't do or try. And he caught up with us." He opened his mouth to go on and stopped. Porom gave his arm a squeeze.

"Sage Galuf wouldn't stop fighting," she said, the words barely audible. "What Kefka did should have killed him, but...."

"It _did_ kill him." Palom sniffed loudly and glared at the floor. "But that old geezer, he didn't--I mean he just wouldn't, not 'till--"

"Until he defeated his enemy." Each halting word they spoke fell into a terribly familiar place in Krile's heart. The tears gathered, and she took a deep breath, trying to send them away. If he was here, he would tell her to be strong. He would tell her to fight. Kefka might have fallen, but Garland's warning echoed in her thoughts. Grandpa had understood, too. Whether or not they could win this war was doubtful, but if they let Mateus take his plans to fruition, they would certainly lose.

"I tried to heal him," said Porom. "I tried every spell I know but it just--"

Krile grabbed them both and pulled them in. "I know. I know. It isn't your fault." A moment of stillness. Then Porom let herself sag against Krile's shoulder and, after a moment, Palom did too. "He brought me here."

"He said he--a successor. We looked, but..." Palom sniffed, looked up, and hastily wriggled loose. Krile felt an uncertain hand touch her shoulder. Hope had finished what he was doing. Now he looked down, hesitant but erring on the side of reaching out.

"You--are you okay?"

She nodded, unable for a moment to bring any words out. "Is everything ready?"

"Just needs Mateus t'make it complete." Leila, flipping and catching one knife repeatedly, looked from one entrance to the other. Hope took up station near a switch, holding his airwing in his free hand. Krile gave Porom a squeeze. Then she, too, stood up straight and summoned her lance.


	17. Kefka's Tower

Light flashed in the center of the factory. "--utter imbecile!" Mateus sneered. "You simply left them to do as they would? Half of them were half- _dead_. You even took the guard dog with you, and now where is he? Tied up with his rivals whilst the rest scurry off to Cosmos for a complete restoration."

Xande threw him a testy glare. "Seifer was never loyal to us in the first place."

"I know that, you fool. Why do you think I kept him near? His delusions of chivalry made him easy to manipulate." Mateus looked around. There was no sign of any of them--not the warriors of Cosmos, nor the traitorous pirate, nor the children that Xande had been so frightened of. The weapons they had confiscated from the test subjects had been stolen along with them. And a heap of golden fragments was all that was left of his manikin sentry. Mateus' blood simmered--simmered rather than boiled, for uncontrolled rage would waste time that was better spent plotting vengeance. "You had better check to see if the capsule machinery was sabotaged."

"Why not you?" said Xande.

"Did you think my sentry watched only the prisoners?" Mateus waved a hand. "I defer to your greater knowledge on the workings of this factory."

Xande didn't obey the suggestion right away; he wondered just how much Mateus knew and how much more Mateus was hiding. But after a moment, Xande reached for the switch on an empty capsule. He roared in pain as a brilliant white bolt smashed into his hand. "It's booby-trapped!" he gasped, recoiling.

Mateus sat back on the empty air. "What a foolish deception," he announced, for they were certainly hiding somewhere near. "Unworthy of _heroes_ like you. Did you really think you could just lay traps and watch me walk into them?" He watched as Xande moved cautiously around, head turning this way and that in search of their foes. Mateus drummed his fingers on his knee. The most sensible thing was to stay put. The only way moving around would find the traps was by setting them off. But Xande had been built of equal parts resentment and cowardice; whichever was least convenient would reliably be the impulse he followed. Mateus had concluded this long ago, and his opinion bore out once more when Xande raised his staff and shot a fireball towards the lower level. It struck something with a peculiar ringing sound and rebounded back on him. Mateus sighed and unfolded himself. It seemed he couldn't avoid dirtying his hands if there was to be any hope of salvaging the situation.

***

Palom snickered as Xande practically flipped in midair to avoid the reflected spell. "What's that? Can't stand the taste of your own medicine?" he taunted, hands on his hips. "I wouldn't either with such shoddy spellcasting!" It had to feel intensely satisfying for the boy to inflict some humilation on the sorcerer who had dragged him to and fro as a human baitbox--which was why Hope was keeping an eye on him, because sooner or later he'd overdo it and need help. But they had at last gotten Mateus on the move. Hope nodded to Porom. They cast spells as though trying to race each other, laying protections over protections. Then he darted out into the open, joining Palom in the battle. Xande looked at Hope in disbelief. "You--how did you sabotage this place against us?!"

"It's simple machinery," said Hope. He threw a lever. "Just take a look." 

Steam exploded from the wall like a battering ram, slamming Xande into the wall. Leila shot forward the same instant. Krile spun to face Mateus and raised her hand. His eyes widened in rage as the squirrels attacked, biting and ripping at him. His scepter was left floating in the air as he flailed at them with his hands. The sight of the rodents leaving scratches all over his gleaming armor had broken his impeccable composure. "Vermin, summoned by ver-- _ah!_ " He doubled over as Leila's knife plunged into his shoulder. Crimson flowed across gold as he whirled around, hurling undirected magic. But though the spells struck, she hardly even flinched as she pursued his retreat.

"Haharr! Shoulda studied yer white magic, ye tawdry heap o' jetsam!" 

He recoiled and plunged away, seeking an unready opponent. Krile took a deep breath as he soared straight towards her and brought her lance up at the last second. It punched right through his breastplate. He yelled in pain and swiped with his uninjured arm, a desperate and undignified attack. The protection spells dulled the efforts of his clawed gauntlets, and he didn't see Leila race up behind him. Krile knocked his scepter away as he raised it--the crest he summoned wobbled and shot its missiles in random directions. But the necessity of ducking still gave him a split second that he used to slash his arm down through the air. Black lightning burst up from the floor behind him. Leila cursed as it struck, stunning her for long enough for him to get out from between them. He dropped towards the floor, clutching his arm. "I leave you to deal with this rabble, Xande."

"No you don't!" Krile kicked off of the railing. Mateus turned slowly to look at her as he swished his scepter to create a portal, but a yell took her attention away from him. She spun in midair in time to see Xande hit Palom with a two-fisted punch, sending the boy flying. On instinct, Krile dove to catch him before he could crash into the wall. They flipped over and over in midair, a tangle of capes until she managed to find the floor. She ran to see what had happened without bothering to put him down, ignoring his strident protests.

The fading light of portal magic hung in the air. Krile set Palom back on his feet. At any other time she would have been amused by the way he tugged his clothes straight and brushed at his hair in an effort to recover his dignity. But their whole objective had failed; they'd let Mateus escape. And there was no telling where he'd go or what he'd do next.

"Curse him!" Leila snarled, standing on the other side of the catwalk. "We almost 'ad the blaggard! If 'e gets away for good--" Shattering ice curtailed her rant. Wiping blood from her cheek, Leila backtracked as Hope and Porom's battle against Xande demanded their notice. Krile leaped in between him and them, kicking him in midair, but she might as well have kicked a wall. Orange eyes blazing with anger, Xande grabbed her and flung her into the floor.

"Do you think I'm some pigeon-chested spell merchant? To be immortal--it takes a body as powerful as its mind!"

"Guess you're not getting your wish then!" Palom punctuated the remark with a blast of fire. Then he vanished as Porom swung her own staff, transporting him safely away from Xande's retaliatory strike. 

Hope ran up with a quick healing spell as Krile recovered her balance. "What's all this blue haze?" He waved at the particles of light. Something about their appearance was uneasily familiar, but they felt different than he expected. Whenever he touched one it melted into his hand, leaving a little electrical tingle. He watched as Leila flung her arm up to throw a bolt of lightning, generating more of the strange blue pinpricks. They yanked away suddenly as though pulled on strings, so suddenly that Hope jumped back, and they coalesced into a glowing winged bell.

Krile gasped and took off. "Hope! We've got to get that quick!"

Xande spun around. The spinning bell was just a few feet from him; he simply reached over with his staff and flipped it up into his hand. When the haze cleared, a different Xande stood there. Veins lined his musculature in vivid blue; the limb he raised to bat away Hope was no longer the hand of a man but the massive claw of a behemoth. Arcane energies swirled around him as he stepped forward and slammed his staff into the ground. Pipes and grates of the factory tore themselves free of walls and ceiling with an unholy screeching. The rain of jagged metal bounced away from Xande without leaving a scratch on his bare skin. He picked up Hope by the collar and hurled him towards the factory floor.

Xande struck the floor a second time. The four Cosmos warriors staggered, trying desperately to keep their feet, but then struggled even to keep their senses amidst the rending, shivering pain that tore through their bodies.

Palom and Porom looked at each other. Wordlessly they joined hands. Magic flared around their feet and a barrage of red-hot stars struck Xande. He stood there as each slammed into him, making no attempt to dodge. "Pitiful whelps. _This_ is the power of Meteor."

With a single gesture, Xande cast a double spell. Incandescent boulders crashed from the ceiling, filling the metal room with unspeakable heat. The shield magics cast by Hope and Porom shattered like thin glass under the barrage. Xande spun his staff and slammed it into the ground. The flapping of his cape echoed like thunder as silence spread with the swirling blue-black that washed over the world. Krile halted in the act of reaching for her lance. Palom and Porom's breath stilled. Hope stopped halfway up from the floor. "I will end time," said Xande. "I will end my own death."

The inky waters spiraled in and lifted him from the floor. As the tide pulled away the Cosmos warriors found themselves able to move again, but it would avail them little. The darkness gathered before him, a nexus that would wipe them out utterly.

A criss-cross of pain erupted across his back. Something streaked past him, silver and copper and gold, a trail of brilliant hues. The claws he reached out to snatch the apparition melted back into hands as that magnificent energy vanished, and the blue-black energy evaporated like mist in the sun. 

"Bit hasty, aren't yer?"

Standing atop the railing with a sword in each hand, glittering like the contents of an empress' jewelery box, stood Leila. Hope caught sight of the sidelong glance she gave her companions. The meaning of that look shot through his dazed senses. He had seen it before.

_You survive._

Beside him, Krile gasped and forced herself onto her hands and knees. Leila's teeth appeared in one quick smile before she vanished in a blur. The rubies and sapphires and pearls sent rays of dazzling light across the rusted remnants of the factory. Xande cast spell after spell. They all struck just behind her in an ineffectual trail of malice as she raced along the wall. For another instant she appeared, as still as a photograph save for the scarves that drifted in the breeze created by her own velocity. Then she moved again. Too late, Xande saw that the green which lingered in the air behind her was not that of emerald, or peridot, or malachite. And the instant he reached that conclusion was the instant he felt the sting of her blades crossing his chest.

" _NO!_ "

She stood still again. The splendor faded, the swords shrank to knives. Xande staggered backwards with eyes wide as saucers. "You've poisoned me!" Leila stepped back from his wild swing. He grasped at his chest and spun on his heel. "White mage! Heal this!"

"Sir, are you quite serious?"

Xande stepped forward to menace her and gasped in pain as the toxin beat through his blood. "No... no, I will not allow this! _No!_ " He summoned a portal and vanished through it with another choked sound. 

Leila chuckled as her normal appearance slowly resumed. As the gems winked out one by one, her grip on her weapons went slack. They clattered to the floor as her knees buckled. Krile and Hope rushed forward, grabbing her by the arms before she could fall. "Leila, hold on!" Krile begged. 

"Forget it. Don't worry about me, look t' yer little friends there."

Hope cast the most powerful healing spell he could manage. But Xande had aimed right for her with Meteor, and it would take much more than hat. He looked up. Palom and Porom had helped each other up, sharing their magic to get themselves back into a walkable condition. "Are you two okay?! Porom, can you help?"

They hurried over as quick as they could manage to where Leila sat, still held upright between Krile and Hope. "Bloody determined, aren't ye?" said Leila as Porom added her own spells to Hope's. 

Palom stamped his foot. "Come on, lady, you really wanna go out getting killed by Xande? _Xande?_ " 

"Tch... ye have a point, lad." Leila sighed and looked up at Krile and Hope. "But Xande's small fry. That blasted Emperor ran for it again. Ye'd best stop wasting time here and go scupper that scallywag."

Krile twisted the bangle around on her arm. This was the Light Warrior all over again. She wasn't any more prepared to abandon a friend so they could be helpless to any enemy that showed up. Especially not one whose own side wanted to kill her now. "We're not just going to leave you here."

Hope hesitated. Then he looked at the twins. "Palomporom--can you get out of here? Your magic can do it, right?"

They stared at him. For a moment he despaired that the answer would be no. Then Porom spoke, and she sounded colder than the deepest ice magic. "Sir... please, do _not_ conflate me with my brother." Hope blushed, Krile giggled, and Porom took a deep breath to compose herself as she cast more white magic on Leila. "I can get us away from here. We'll be fine."

Krile let out a deep sigh and smiled in undisguised relief. She had been so sure she would see what Palom and Porom had seen, something that she knew she had seen herself even if the memory was still not all there. But the combined efforts of their two white mages had done their work. There was color in the pirate's face again, and though Leila clearly wasn't in fighting shape, she no longer seemed to be on death's door. "Be careful, okay?" she said. "We won't let Mateus get away again."

"That's right." Hope stood up. "We'll beat him together."


End file.
